around from behind his desk and we shook hands. We sat down in two chairs next to each other talking. Usually when you talk with a member of Congress, you've got between ten and twelve minutes and that's it because they've got some-body else who is coming in. After we had been talking for about two or three minutes a door opened to his right, sort of behind him, and his Portuguese waterdog, Splash, walked in. He walks into the room with an old tennis ball in his mouth and comes straight to me. I mean, he bypasses Kennedy and comes straight at me. And Kennedy's saying: “I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry”. I said: “Don't worry about it. I have no explanation for it, but dogs and children seem to like me. It's fine”. He had one of his assistants take the dog out of the room and we talked for about 35 to 40 minutes. As I was leaving, he stopped me and said, “Heber we'll take that money right out of the defense budget”. When I told Thad about my conversation with Ted Kennedy he just laughed and said, “Ted takes every-thing out of the defense budget, Heber.” As we were parting, Kennedy said, "You know, I'm giving a speech tomorrow over at the Johns Hopkins School of International Relations and I'd like to have you come and be one of my special guests." And I said: "Well, Ted, that would be fine. I'd appreciate it. But my wife is with me on this trip and I'd have to bring her, too. And he said, "Oh, that's fine. Just bring her with you." So, he told one of his assistants: "Make sure that they have good seats tomorrow." The speech was to start at 11:00 and we arrived about 10:30, in order to get there on time. When we arrived the man, who greeted us said: "Oh yes, we're looking for you." And we were seated in the second row. The speech was at an auditorium at Johns Hopkins. We were sitting in the second row and I'm the third one from the center aisle. I'm sitting next to a woman who turns and asks me: "How long have you known Ted?”. When I told her that I met him about 5:00 yesterday afternoon, she was flabber-gasted, to put it bluntly! Sitting right in front of me were Eunice Shriver, Ted's sister and the head of the Special Olympics, and her husband, Sergeant. Ted had told me during our discussion that I needed to talk with his sister, Eunice. I told him that I would like to talk with her but didn’t have an avenue to get to her. He answered: "Oh, I'll fix that up for you." One thing you learn in Washington is that a lot of people say that they will help you, but sometimes you must prompt them to get them to follow through with their promise. Anyway, we were sitting there, and he came in on the left side of the left group of seats. I leaned up to look down the aisle at him, and he looked me straight in the eye and said, "Good morning, Dr. Simmons." Well, I was floored by that because I never expect anybody to remember my name. For me, if people on Capitol Hill remember “Heber”, that's all I care about. So, he gave his talk, and by the time he finished it was obvious that the first two rows were his special guests. So, he came down and shook hands with each person. I introduced my wife to him, and she was all gaga about meeting Ted Kennedy. I want to tell you, Ted Kennedy was as nice as anybody could be. I've known three members of that family, and every one of them has been so nice and as generous, just personality plus. The Shrivers started to leave and I thought: "You know, this is your chance to talk to Eunice Shriver and you better say something." So, I reached over as she was leaving and tapped her on the shoulder. I think she was 81 years old at that time. She wheeled around at me because she obviously was not accustomed to strange men tapping her on the shoul-der. As I tried to explain who I was, Ted saw what was happening and hurried back across the aisle, put his arm around Eunice and said, "Dr. Simmons is trying to help the children you're trying to help, and you two need to get together”. With that comment, her whole demeanor changed, and she said "I want to see you. When are you coming back to Washington?" I told her that I would be back in about a month. As we parted, she said, “Let me give you my cell phone number. I want to stay in contact with you.” She wrote it down on one of my big business cards. I still have that number in my phone. I never called it. But, one day I'm going to call that number just to see who has Eunice Shriver's old cell phone number. I came home and didn't call her the 30 Spring 2019 JAOS
Journal of the American Orthodontic Society Spring 2019: Page 30
