David George KENNEDY

KENNEDY, PRICE, JOHNSON, WILLIAMS, LICON, LOUX, KEMMER, CORSELLO, BUSEMAN

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 12/29/2006 at 23:04:09

David George Kennedy, 80, Belmond, died on Saturday, January 29, 2005, at the Mercy Medical Center in Mason City. Memorial services will be at a later date. The body has been cremated. The Dugger-Ewing Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements.

David, the son of Charles and Edith Price Kennedy, was born on March 5, 1924 in Colfax. He graduated from the Colfax High School in 1941. During his school days he had a paper route and worked in a grocery store on Saturdays. He also worked in a bottling company after school and learned the business. After graduating he got a job at the Monroe Company making tables; then he worked for, and was soon promoted to, general manager of Dr. Pepper Bottling in Des Moines. Then he worked for Maytag. In 1943 he entered military service and trained at Ft. Belvoir, Virginia. He passed the Officers Training Test and was sent to a four-year college crash course in engineering to be completed in 12 months. But after three months he was sent to England and assigned to the 348th Special Engineer Brigade, which built pontoon bridges. He was promoted to Staff Sergeant. His unit was part of the Normandy Invasion. He was discharged in 1945.

David met his wife, Donna Jeanne Johnson, at Belmond. He helped his aunt at Waddington's Store for awhile and then decided to open his own sandwich shop which was destroyed by fire several weeks later. In March 1946 he purchased a local freight business. He married Donna in July of 1946, and they operated a furniture store which was destroyed by the Belmond Tornado. In 1968 he purchased a small decorator pillow factory and moved it to Belmond. Donna died in 1969 and David then took a sales job. In May of 1972 he married Sharon Williams. She had five children, and David had five children. The "Brady Bunch" or "Eight Is Enough" didn't hold a candle to their family. In 1972 David joined Kiefer Built Trailer Company in Kanawha as a sales representative. In 1978 he became general sales manager. At the time of his death David was selling and promoting his current company. David was a devoted father and grandfather. He was a member of the Belmond United Methodist Church.

David was preceded in death by his parents; his first wife, Donna; and his second wife, Sharon in 2003. Survivors are his children, Sandra (Ramon) Licon, Linda (Lynn) Loux, David Kennedy, James (Jane) Kennedy, April (Randy) Kemmer, Terry (Jim) Corsello; step-children, Jack (Robin) Williams, Kristie Buseman, Randy (Diane) Williams, Shelley (Terry) Buseman, James Williams; grandchildren and great-grandchildren, Valerie, Gabriel, Jason, Joshua, Austin, Katherine, Michael, Anna, Jonathan, Lindsay, Chad, Donnie, Casey, Eric, Jessica, Nicole and Desiree.

February 15, 2005
©Belmond Independent 2005