Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett wants to rename a North Bethesda pool after Eunice and Sargent Shriver, who were longtime county residents before their deaths. The Montgomery Aquatic Center, near the White Flint Metro station, is one of four public indoor swimming pools in the county. The only other county pool named for a person is the Martin Luther King Jr. Swim Center in the White Oak area of Silver Spring.
Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who died in 2009, was President Kennedy’s sister and a founder of the Special Olympics. Her husband, Sargent Shriver, who died in January, was the 1972 Democratic candidate for vice president and founder of the Peace Corps.
Leggett and his office did not return phone calls to comment on the impetus for the change.
But in a statement, Leggett said naming the pool for the Shrivers is fitting because they “were avid swimmers and were renowned for opening their home and pool to disabled and disadvantaged children for fun and exercise and for Eunice Shriver’s beloved Special Olympics activities.”
The Montgomery Aquatic Center includes an eight-lane main pool, exercise facilities and saunas, according to its website.
Not everyone is thrilled about the potential renaming.
Liz Schmidt, of Bethesda, whose daughter is on a dive team at the pool, said unless the Shrivers were active participants at the pool or had given it money, the name shouldn’t be changed.
“If not, keep it the same,” she said, explaining that the names of Kennedy family members “shouldn’t be put on everything.”
Leggett appointed a naming committee, as required by the county, to review the proposal and comments from the public on the name change, which were due to the county last week.
The committee will make a final recommendation to Leggett after reviewing the public comments as well as those from the County Council.
