As a nanny Eileen met the famous

By Jo Pattison
BBC Kent

Eileen has special memories of meeting President Kennedy

Eileen always wanted to look after children, she knew she would never do anything else.

What she didn't know was that it would take her from a tiny house with an outside toilet and a tin bath, to Canada and the home of an oil tycoon.

In fact, Mr Frank McMahon had not one but three homes in Canada, New York and Florida as well his own jet and yacht.

He was also friends with some very well connected people - the Kennedy family, Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan.

Eileen met stars Bob Hope and Bing Crosby

Mrs McMahon, a former writer and columnist for Cosmopolitan, was a friend to celebrities - all of a sudden Eileen found herself in a completely different world.

As nanny to the McMahon girls, Francine and Bettina, Eileen was treated as one of the family - a family who spent time with presidents and movie stars. Consequently, she has a wealth of special memories to share.

Eileen sat on the beach chatting with Jackie Kennedy, she shared a spectacular harvest moon with President Kennedy and even refused Bobby Kennedy when he asked her to be nanny to his children.

Eileen having a picnic at the Kennedys with the McMahon family

She and the children sat in President Nixon's box at the Kentucky Derby and rode in the presidential car complete with outriders.

Years later when Francine married and had her own children, she asked Eileen to be their nanny. Francine had married a French Count - this time Eileen would be mixing with European royalty and those wonderful experiences started all over again.