Eunice Shriver in critical condition

BOSTON, Aug. 7 (UPI) -- Eunice Kennedy Shriver was in critical but stable condition in a Cape Cod, Mass., hospital, her family said Friday.

A family statement did not say why the 88-year-old Shriver, founder of the Special Olympics and the oldest sister of assassinated President John F. Kennedy, was hospitalized in intensive care, The Boston Globe said.

But the newspaper said she has been hospitalized several times in the past decade with illnesses and broken bones.

The statement said her entire family was with her Friday.

Shriver is the wife of Sargent Shriver, first director of the Peace Corps and a former U.S. ambassador to France. He was a Democratic vice presidential candidate in 1972.

She is also the mother of broadcaster Maria Shriver, wife of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was also at the hospital, a source told the Globe.

Eunice Shriver received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award, from President Ronald Reagan in 1984 for her work with the disabled.