Despite this public acknowledgement, Rosemary was confined to the convent. It was only after her father's death in 1969 that her family allowed her to leave the convent on brief visits to the family home in Cape Cod.

Following Rose Kennedy's stroke in 1984, it was Rosemary's sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who took over as her primary caregiver while the rest of her family continued to visit her as their busy schedules allowed. When Rosemary finally died of natural causes in a Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin hospital in 2005, Senator Edward Kennedy and all of his surviving sisters were at her beside. The family statement included in her obituary described her as a "lifelong jewel to every member of our family, From her earliest years, her mental retardation was acontinuing inspiration to each of us and a powerful source of our family's commitment to do all we can to help all persons with disabilities live full and productive lives."

Even today, biographers continue to question the motivation behind Rosemary's lobotomy. Despite her parents' concerns about their daughter's behavioural problems, there seems little doubt that her borderline intelligence would have allowed her to function well enough to have a chance at a regular life, if not to the high expectations of her family. "Joe had two principal concerns about Rosemary," wrote Barbara Gibson and Ted Schwarz in their book, Rose Kennedy and Her Family: The Best and Worst of Their Lives and Times. "She was not the competition-oriented ideal of Kennedy womanhood, and he thought her sexuality was too