Remembering Martin Sheets, Who Shined at Special Olympics

Martin Sheets, who became a face of the Special Olympics, winning more than 250 medals competing for more than 40 years in its events for people with intellectual disabilities, died on Thursday in Greensboro, N.C. He was 62.

He had dementia, his family said.

The Mother of the Special Olympics

To Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who died Tuesday, people with intellectual disabilities were “our special friends.”
Her friends, now in the millions, became the world’s friends, through the Special Olympics. They became messengers in her campaign to alter the attitudes of skeptical, often callous people about the limits of their capabilities. She understood that mentally retarded children could excel at sports and life.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver's Faithful Service

Washington Post journalist and author, Sally Quinn founded and co-moderates On Faith, a Washington Post and Newsweek blog about religion and its impact on global life.
Thirty-five years ago, a friend of mine gave birth to a girl with Down Syndrome and immediately put her in an institution. Everyone sympathized. My friend did the right thing, we all believed, not exposing her family to the shame of a damaged child. It was the proper way to deal with the situation.
Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who died Tuesday at age 88, changed all of our minds about that.