WHEELING, W.Va. — Fifty years after his uncle helped West Virginia mark its Centennial, Mark Kennedy Shriver will be in the Mountain State for the Sesquicentennial.
Shriver is scheduled to attend events surrounding West Virginia’s 150th birthday this week in Wheeling.
He will speak during Thursday night’s concert at Heritage Port that will including the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra, Johnny Staats, Kathy Mattea and Landau Eugene Murphy, Jr.
“The Kennedy family has always had a very firm and emotional attachment to West Virginia both in terms of the politics, but also in social programs they’ve been involved in,” said Senate President Jeff Kessler.
“It’s a big event and a big day.”
Shriver’s uncle, President John F. Kennedy, delivered a famous speech on the steps of the State Capitol on a rainy day in June 1963 to mark West Virginia’s 100th birthday.
West Virginia’s voters helped JFK win the Democratic nomination for President in 1960.
Shriver is a senior vice president for Strategic Initiative and an adviser for Save the Children, a program that counts Jennifer Garner, an actress and Kanawha County native, among its supporters.
State lawmakers have provided funding for Save the Children over the years to help fight child poverty in the Mountain State. The goal of the organization is to change the lives of kids for the better here in the United States and around the world.
Shriver’s mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founded the organization that is now the Special Olympics. His father, Sargent Shriver, helped create the Peace Corps.