Kennedy, James Robert 1921 - 1995

KENNEDY, NIX, WILLIAMS, LARSEN

Posted By: Pat Ludeke (email)
Date: 5/20/2013 at 10:05:09

James Robert Kennedy
CLEAR LAKE
James Robert Kennedy, 74, of 2300 Main Ave., died Saturday (Sept.
30, 1995) at home from a rare neurological disease of brief duration.
The funeral service will be 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 4, 1995,
at the United Methodist Church in Clear Lake, with the Rev. Fred
Lewis officiating. Burial will be in the Clear Lake Cemetery.
Military honors will be provided by the Clear Lake V.F.W. Post
No. 4868.
Visitation begins at 3 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 3, at the Ward-Van
Slyke Colonial Chapel, 101 N. Fourth St. The family will be
present to receive friends from 7 to 8:30 p.m. The family requests
no flowers, but suggests any memorials be given to Opportunity
Village or the United Methodist Church of Clear Lake.
James Kennedy was born in Clear Lake Aug. 29, 1921, the son
of the late Mary Williams Kennedy and Samuel Kennedy, Jr. He
attended Clear Lake public schools and graduated with a degree
in mechanical engineering from Iowa State University, where he
was a member and president of Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity.
He entered the Army Air Corps and took flight engineering training
shortly thereafter and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant.
He served with valor in the South Pacific as a flight engineer
aboard a B-29 bomber and was awarded the Purple Heart medal after
his plane was shot down over Tokyo Bay.
He returned to Clear Lake following World War II and entered
the family business of vegetable growing with his father and
brother and later with his son.
In 1949, he was married to Nancy N. Nix of Los Angeles, Calif.,
then a teacher at Clear Lake High School.
Mr. Kennedy was active in business and community affairs. He
served on the Clear Lake School Board and was active in the United
Methodist Church and Boy Scouts. He was a member of the Masonic
Lodge and the American Legion, the North Iowa Men's Garden Club.
He was a charter 50-year member of the V.F.W. and an enthusiastic
Rotarian for 49 years. He was a Paul Harris Fellow and past
president of the Clear Lake Rotary Club. He liberally supported
Opportunity Village.
Applying advanced engineering methods, he became a leader in
vegetable farming. He was a member of the Iowa State Irrigators
Association, the Farm Bureau and a member and past president
of the Iowa State Vegetable Growers Association. He received
many awards including the Iowa State Horticultural Society Merit
Award.
Survivors include his wife; two sons, William Robert and his
wife, Susan, of Clear Lake, and Dr. John Leon and his wife, Marcia
of Elmhurst, Ill.; a daughter, Mary Larsen and her husband, John,
of Clear Lake; 10 grandchildren, J.R. Kennedy, Katie Kennedy,
Douglas Kennedy, Julia Kennedy, Ellen Kennedy, David Kennedy,
Wesley Kennedy, Isaac Larson, Tiffany Larsen, Troy Larsen; a
brother, Charles Jackson of Clear Lake; and three sisters,
Elizabeth (Mrs. Richard) Harry of Canfield, Ohio,
Marguerite (Mrs. Ralph) Smith of Rochester, Minn., and
Kathryn (Mrs. Ken) Pearson of Minnetonka, Minn.