Twenty years ago this week the community was abuzz in anticipation of one of Carroll County's most celebrated native sons, Robert Sargent Shriver Jr. returning to town to help celebrate the City of Westminster's 150th Anniversary Dinner on Nov. 18, 1988.

Shriver, who was born Nov. 9, 1915, lived several childhood years on Willis Street in Westminster.

He married Eunice Kennedy, President John F. Kennedy's sister and the daughter of Joseph P. and Rose F. Kennedy, on May 23, 1953. Mrs. Shriver is the founder and chair of Special Olympics International and the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation.

They have five children, one of whom, Maria Owings Shriver, is married to another well-known national personality, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The program for the 1988 event listed Shriver's "unparalleled record of public service at the local, national and international level: International lawyer ... advocate for the poor. ... He is a graduate of Yale University and Yale Law School and he served in the U.S. Navy for five years.

"He worked briefly as an editorial assistant at Newsweek magazine before joining the staff of Ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy."

He served under President Kennedy as the organizer and first director of the Peace Corps and as the first director of the Office of Economic Opportunity. According to the anniversary program, he "created VISTA, Head Start, Community Action, Foster Grandparents, Job Corps, Legal Services, Indian and Migrant Opportunities, and Neighborhood Health Services..."

He also served as special assistant to President Lyndon Johnson and as ambassador to France.

He was nominated as Sen. George McGovern's running mate in the presidential election of 1972. A devout Catholic, he remains the last -- since 1972 -- anti-abortion candidate to run for president or vice president for the Democratic Party.

In 1984, he was elected president of Special Olympics International, where he administered the operation and development of programs for individuals with mental retardation in every state and 65 nations. Shriver also has a special connection with the burial of President John F. Kennedy at Arlington National Cemetery on Nov. 25, 1963. It was Shriver who suggested that Arlington Cemetery be the president's final resting place.

A Nov. 30, 1988, newspaper account of the event described that Shriver spoke to "an audience of about 520 gathered at Martin's Westminster about the Carroll County" in which he was raised.

"We really didn't have to recite the Pledge of Allegiance every day because we lived it and so did everyone in Westminster. ... The things I've learned here (in Westminster) are more important than what I've learned in all the other places I've lived since."

Sadly, in recent years, Shriver has suffered from Alzheimer's disease. His daughter published a children's book in 2004, "What's Happening to Grandpa?" to help explain Alzheimer's to children.

Sargent Shriver, who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Aug. 8, 1994, once summed it best: "Nearly everybody in their life needs someone to help them. I don't care whether you're the greatest self-made man; the fact is, somebody has helped you along the way."

We can all be proud that Sargent Shriver found the roots for his lifetime commitment to public service in Westminster. Our nation and the world have greatly benefited from the life, wisdom and work of this great man -- who began his journey on Willis Street.

Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster. E-mail him at kdayhoff@carr.org.

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