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January 03, 2024
Josephine Eleanor Gladys Kennedy died peacefully at Belvedere Heights Home for the Aged in Parry Sound on January 3, 2024, just shy of 99 years. She is survived by her 3 sons, Joel (and Leena), Peter (and Janet) and Paul (and Laura), and 5 grandchildren Jacob (and Lesley), Maija (and Jonny Goward), Jessica (and Jeff Rogers), Alison (and Denardo Riley) and Madeleine (and Chris Wicken). Four great grandchildren, Ella, Leila, Sloane, Graham, and Videl, are also missing their Nan.
She lost her sight when just a toddler (she thinks from looking at an eclipse when she was told “not to look.” From then on, her diagnosis was “Macular Degeneration”. With her 3% vision she nevertheless excelled at regular school in Galt, and finished her formal education with 2 years in Brantford at the School for the Blind. She relished every kind of academic challenge, played every word scramble, and mastered every crossword she came across.
Her loving husband Watson, and after his passing her music partner Ken Dunk, predeceased her. She was born and raised in Galt, the last survivor of the Whittington siblings (Sonny, Jim. Reg, Ron, Cyril, Victor and Dick (Fred)). She followed Watson throughout the years, with bank transfers from Burks Falls to Barrie, Sunridge, Strathroy, Brampton, Paisley, Rodney, and then back to Brampton to finish his career. Everyone who knows her is sure she is “up there” playing the keyboard for all of her family, while her lifetime of pampered pets – Bugsy, Skippy, Duffy, Butch, Jake, Lucky, Feather, and Coco, and many Alpha tom cats and litters from the other gender – gather around.
After lovingly nursing Watson through Parkinsons in his final years, Jo embraced the Parry Sound senior’s community, playing very oldie but goodie standards on the keyboard at The Friends, Lakeland, Community Living, Belvedere, and Serenity. She loved her “gigs” with Ken, and was a regular at senior’s bowling.
A child of the depression, her frugality was, for later generations, an amusing quirk. An A&P bag of elastics?, hamburger patties stored frozen in cut off milk bags?, jars and jars of buttons? Zippers? The bottom inches of men’s and boy’s jeans? She was not a hoarder, but a saver extraordinaire. She made many of her own clothes, and school shirts and trousers for her children.
To most people, Jo seemed fiercely independent; to her Parry Sound family, she was the “roommate across the street.” Her ability to tell remembered stories is legendary. There was many a time when the family was gathered around the supper table, and one by one participants would quietly excuse themselves “to help in the kitchen” until one sacrificial listener remained.
Jo handled her visual handicap with productive confidence, serving on the board of the CNIB and giving talks about living with blindness to school assemblies and service clubs. She touched many lives for the better and always saw the best in people.
In lieu of flowers, as expressions of sympathy, donations to the charity of your choice would be appreciated. Jo regularly supported the OSPCA, the Salvation Army, and the West Parry Sound Health Centre.
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2024
Death notice for the town of: Parry-Sound, Province: Ontario
death notice JO KENNEDY 2024
obituaries notice JO KENNEDY 2024
We offer our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of JO KENNEDY 2024 and hope that their memory may be a source of comfort during this difficult time. Your thoughts and kind words are greatly appreciated.
