Mack & Gertrude Kenney

KENNEY CLARK

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 9/15/2010 at 20:18:57

History of Woodbury County, Iowa 1984

Mack and Gertrude Kenney
By Gertrude Kenney

Mack Harlow Kenney was born January 10, 1922, at Whitesburg, Tennessee. He was the son of M H and Flora Mae Kenney. He moved to a farm near Whiting, Iowa, with his parents in 1929.

In March 1930, the family moved to a farm northwest of Sloan in Lakekport Township.

When Mack was ten years old, he picked corn for Lester Montange. Lester paid him with a gilt. That was the beginning of many years in the hog business.

He attended the country school until he came to Sloan to attend high school. He and Gertrude were in the same class. She was the daughter of Pat. and Winnie Clark, born August 20, 1922.

They started dating when they were Seniors in high school. He asked to take her to the movie ‘Gone With The Wind’. Her mother told her to ask if could help pay for the tickets as they were two dollars and fifty cents each. That was quite a price! He said, ‘No’, he would pay.

They graduated from Sloan High School in 1940. Mack continued farming with his father and Gertrude entered St Joseph School of Nursing in Sioux City. She graduated in June 1943 and worked as a registered nurse until they were married December 28, 1943, at St Joseph Catholic Church in Sioux City.

They lived in Sloan for four years while Mack continued to farm with his father. The roads were dirt and when it rained they were mud. Many times he rode to and from the farm on his horse.

In 1947 they moved to the farm northwest of Sloan in Lakeport Township.

In 1949 they moved to a farm southwest of Sloan in Fairview Township, Monona County, and are living there.

They have two children. Anthony Wayne ‘Tony’ was born January 30, 1953 in Sioux City. He married Marilyn Ortner, December 1, 1973, at Mapleton, Iowa. They have three children: Neil Patrick, born April 8, 1975; Jamie Lee, born September 1, 1978; and Jared Wayne, born February 22, 1983.

Mack and Gertrude have a daughter, Jeanne Ann Kenney, born March 10, 1956, in Sioux City, Iowa. She lives in Omaha, Nebraska, and is a buyer for Northern Natural Gas.