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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Obituary: Kennedy, John Sidney

Age 92

KENNEDY, John Sidney John Sidney Kennedy passed away peacefully on July 6, 2015 in Spokane, WA.

He was 92.

Sid was born on January 18, 1923 in Spokane, Washington to Jesse and Hildah Kennedy and was the oldest of their three children (Gordon and Norma).

He was descended from the earliest settlers of Spokane and had traced his Kennedy family ancestry back to the 1300’s, coming from Ayrshire, Scotland to America in 1699.

Sid was raised in Spokane and Post Falls and attended Moran Elementary and Post Falls High School.

Rumors that the United States might join Great Britain in the fight against Japan and Germany led him to leave school in the middle of his senior year to join the U.S. Navy in January, 1941.

After completing basic training in San Diego, he was stationed in NAS Kaneohe, in the U.S. territory of Hawaii where, at age 18, he became a survivor of the Japanese attack on Kaneohe, Pearl Harbor and other military bases in Hawaii on December 7, 1941.

At 23, he married 19 year-old Dorothea Louise Whitfield, on February 28, 1946.

As a young couple, they were stationed at naval air stations in Seattle, WA; Barbers Point, HI; Iwakuni and Tokyo, Japan; and finally at Moffett Airfield, CA.

They had two children: a son, Gordon Edward and a daughter, Marcy Dee.

After Sid retired from the Navy in 1960, they settled in San Lorenzo, CA where he worked as a sales manager at Telsta Corporation and then as a regional manager for Roper Manufacturing.

In his spare time, he was an accomplished carpenter and did extensive remodeling of their home and built magnificent dollhouses with Dorothea.

He was the author of three books and was a very active member of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Associations first in Oakland, CA and then in Spokane, WA where he and Dorothea moved to when he was 83.

He was also a Chieftain in the Kennedy Society of North America, a 50-year member of the Fleet Reserve Association, a Master Mason, and a long-time member of the Sons of The American Revolution.

The love of his life was his beautiful wife Dorothea.

They were a wonderful team for 67 years until her death in 2012.

Sid will be dearly missed by all who have known him.

He is preceded in death by his son, Gordon Edward Kennedy and brother, Gordon Eugene Kennedy.

He is survived by his sister and brother-in-law Norma and Morrie Agnew of Carson City, NV; daughter, Marcy Kennedy of Spokane; grandsons: Erik Heldt (stationed in Germany), Morgan Heldt, and Kristopher Heldt both of Spokane; granddaughter, Rachel Blanche; sister and brother-in-laws Barbara and Dan Hoagland of Spokane; sister and brother-in-laws Joanne and Dick Bastian of Spokane; and brother and sister-in-laws Charles and Shirley Whitfield of Weidman, Michigan.

A Celebration of Sid’s Life will be held at 1:00pm on Tuesday, July 21st at the Moran United Methodist Church, Reverend Barbara Caviezel will officiate.

Interment will be done privately at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, donations are welcome to the Inland Northwest Honor Flight, 608 W 2nd, Ste 309, Spokane, WA 992201.