Josephine Kennedy

Josephine Louise Gallaway Kennedy was born on her parents’ homestead in Sioux County, Nebraska, on August 25, 1919, the youngest of six children born to Clyde Waldo Gallaway and Stella Irene Baird Gallaway. She went to join her Lord on August 10, 2015, in Morehead City, North Carolina.

Josephine (Jody) graduated from Crawford High School in Crawford, Nebraska, in 1936. On July 22, 1942, in Cheyenne, Wyoming, she married Gerald Wayne Kennedy. They ranched in western Nebraska in both Sioux and Dawes Counties. To this union were born four children: Lela (Marvin) Criswell, William (Nancy) Kennedy, Avis (Bob) Blaylock, and Barbara (Charlie) Gregalis.

Josephine returned to college when her youngest child was in high school, and graduated from Chadron State College in 1970, working for a number of years as the curriculum librarian there. Loved and respected by both students and peers, she was honored to be selected Ivy Day Orator at Chadron State College before her retirement.

Following retirement, Jody moved to Gering, Nebraska, to be near her family. She was a deacon in the First Presbyterian Church in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, as well as being active in the Presbyterian Women’s group. She enjoyed making friends at church and following her grandchildren’s activities, being an avid supporter of all Gering/Scottsbluff sports.

In 2011, Jody moved to Morehead City, North Carolina, and was lovingly welcomed into Barbara and Charlie’s home where she has enjoyed being surrounded by two families of children and grandchildren for the past four years. She was preceded in death by her husband Gerald, her parents, her brother Bill, her sisters Ruth Gallaway, Mary Elizabeth Stevens, Margaret Hickey, and Stella (Teddie) Olson, and by her nephew Jack Stevens and her nieces Ruth Edwards and Margaret Shaffer.

Survivors include her children and their spouses, her niece Dori Murray, nephews Bob and Don Stevens, ten grandchildren: Karin (Dominic) Ruffatto, Glenn (Liesl) Criswell, Dianne Criswell (Ethan Frey), Melanie Criswell, Jared Kennedy and his sister Morgan Kennedy, Erin Blaylock (Carl III) Gull and Nathan (Megan) Blaylock, Kevan Gregalis and Abby (Jason) Leshikar. Fifteen great-grandchildren survive her: Sydney and Abby Criswell, Daniel and Sarah Ruffatto, Charles Frey, Grace, Sean, Miles, and Faith Kennedy, Peyton, Jayden, and Paisley Kennedy, Carl IV and Avery Gull, and Vivian Leshikar.

A memorial service for Josephine will be held at 11:00 AM on Thursday, August 13, 2015, at Munden Funeral Home in Morehead City. The service will be conducted by Pastor Ben Burrows of the Cape Carteret Presbyterian Church. Burial of cremains will be at a later date in Crawford, Nebraska, where her loving husband Gerald is buried. Memorial gifts may be directed to First Presbyterian Church, 101 East 20th Street, Scottsbluff, Nebraska, 69361.