Skiing touched family life of late Senator Ted Kennedy
Skiing with the Kennedy's
Away from Capitol Hill, Kennedy’s family life often involved vacations at ski areas in places such as Stowe, Vt. and Aspen, Colo. The sport took on special significance for Kennedy in the aftermath of the cancer battle for his young son, Ted Jr. In 1973 at the age of 12, Ted Jr. had his right leg surgically amputated in response to the cancer.
Following the operation, the family traveled to Vail during the spring of 1974 for a ski vacation. According to an article in People Magazine at the time, Ted Jr. worked with instructor Blair Ammons, who specialized in amputee skiers. Ted Jr. went on to compete in adaptive skiing.
While skiing provided a triumphant recovery out of a tragic situation for Ted Jr., the sport later touched the Kennedy family in a purely tragic way. Michael Kennedy, Ted Kennedy’s nephew, was killed in a Dec. 31, 1997, skiing accident on Aspen Mountain. Michael had managed his uncle’s 1994 Senate re-election campaign.
Source: Examiner.com
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