43. Rosemary Kennedy

Badger Bizarre

In 1949, St. Coletta of Wisconsin, a non-profit organization in Jefferson providing residential services for people with disabilities, accepted a new resident.

This resident had a unique history, however, and the facility would need to implement very specific arrangements.

Her name was Rosemary Kennedy, the 30-year-old sister of the current senator from Massachussettes, and future President of the United States, John F. Kennedy.

Rosemary's life to that point was one of both privelage and hardships, as physical and intellectual disabilities led to her being bounced around between numerous group homes and boarding schools, as the Kennedy family's ambitions left them unabe to adhere to her needs at home.

In 1941, a horrific failed lobotomy performed on her when she was only 23 complicated her situation even more, leading her parents to send their daughter away, and her siblings wondering what had happened to her.

Scott and Mickey discuss this heartwrenching story, and Wisconsin's connection to the most influential American family in history.

In the opening banter we discuss one of the oldest cold cases in the state finally being solved, and which haunted cemetery in the state is also "one of the most beautiful."

Only here, on episode #43 of Badger Bizarre, "Rosemary Kennedy."

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Opening Trailer:

Ed Gein Sound Byte : "Hard Copy" - Paramount Domestic/CBS Televsion

Frank Lloyd Wright and Jeffery Dahmer Sound Byte - WISN 12 News - Milwaukee, WI

Jeffery Dahmer Quotes: "Inside Edition" - King World/CBS Television/CBS Media

Attribution for Music:

Trailer: Composer: Adam Phillip Zwirchmayr https://www.pond5.com/

Intro: https://pixabay.com/

Outro: Composer: Viacheslav Sarancha https://www.pond5.com/

Attribution for logo design:

Red Claw Scratch Photo

Sources:

Boston Herald - Archives

Callahan, Maureen; "How Rose Kennedy Became the Most Dangerous Member of the Famous Family."

Kaempffert, Waldemar; "Turning the Mind Inside Out."

Koehler-Pentacoff, Elizabeth; "The MIssing Kennedy Daughter"

Larson, Kate Clifford; "Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter"

Washington Times-Herald - Archives

Czachor, Emily Mae; "DNA Breakthrough Solves 1963 Cold Case Murder at WI Gas Station."

Walnut Grove Cemetery

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