Kenaley, Gerald Joseph 1920-2005

KENALEY, SULLIVAN, SHAFFER

Posted By: Linda Ziemann, volunteer (email)
Date: 3/18/2009 at 13:29:01

LE MARS, Iowa -- Gerald Joseph Kenaley, 85, of New Buffalo, Mich., a former longtime Le Mars resident, died Saturday, April 30, 2005, at St. Anthony's Hospital in Michigan City, Ind.

Services will be 10 a.m. today at St. Mark's Catholic Church in Niles, Mich. Burial will be in the family plot at Oak Ridge Cemetery, Buchanan, Mich. Arrangements are under the direction of Hoven Funeral Home in Buchanan.

Mr. Kenaley was born April 4, 1920, in Oto, Iowa, to Joseph Leo and Josephine Margaret (Sullivan) Kenaley. In 1938, he graduated from Union Consolidated School, after which he enrolled at the University of Iowa College of Engineering, where he earned his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. He did his post-graduate studies at Michigan State University, where he received his master's degree in business administration. He served two years of duty in the U.S. Army. His first employment was with the Bendix Corporation in South Bend, Ind.

On Nov. 8, 1952, he married Winifred "Winnie" Shaffer in South Bend. They lived in Niles, Mich., and later moved to Moline, Ill. Until his retirement in 1985, he was employed as an engineer at Rock Island Naval Arsenal in Illinois. Their retirement home was on Lake Michigan at New Buffalo. His wife, Winifred, preceded him in death on Sept. 13, 2002.

Survivors include four sisters, Alice Murray of Iowa City, Iowa, Rita Starzl, Betty Kennaley and Bonnie and her husband, Joe Ruden, all of Le Mars; two brothers and their wives, Donald and Helen Kenaley of Iowa City, Iowa, and Robert "Bob" and Ruth Kenaley of Le Mars; two brothers-in-law and their wives, Robert and Mollie Shaffer of Dowagiac, Mich., and Richard and Donna Shaffer of Berrien Center, Mich.; a sister-in-law and her husband, Maxine and Burrel Weaver of Buchanan, Mich.; and many nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents; two sisters, Mary Louise Kidd and Rose Krogh; four brothers-in-law, Allan Murray, Jim Kidd, Don Krogh and Rome Starzl; and a sister-in-law and her husband, Alma and Harry Stewart.

~Source: The Sioux City Journal
~Part of the Darrell E. Obituary Collection