Anniversary of Kennedy, Neal & Murlene - Grady County, Oklahoma Submitted by: Sandi Carter 17 Jul 2005 Return to Grady County Archives: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ok/grady/grady.html ========================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ========================================================================== The Chickasha Express-Star 15 February 2004 NEAL & MURLENE KENNEDY KENNEDYS TO CELEBRATE 70 YEARS OF MARRIAGE This Valentine's Day season has a special meaning to one couple in Chickasha, Okla., area. Neal and Murlene Kennedy will have been married 70 years, Feb. 18, 2004. They will celebrate this occasion Saturday, Feb. 21, at the Christian Care Retirement Village, where they both reside. Neal and Murlene say they are blessed not only by their many years together, but with their four sons and their families: Lawrence and Helen Kennedy, of San Angelo, Texas; Carl and Janis Kennedy, of Seneca, S. C.; Dean and Ilona Kennedy, of Chickasha; Charles Wayne and Vivian Kennedy, of Tulsa, Okla. In addition to their four sons and their wives, they have 12 grandchildren and 24 great grandchildren. Neal still remembers vividly the first time he met Murlene. On Jan. 6, 1930, his family moved to the Pocasset, Okla, area. He and his brothers stopped at the grocery store to buy some apples, where Murlene worked. Neal carries a small black and white photo in his wallet of Murlene and says with a smile "That's the girl I saw in the grocery store that day." Murlene said she doesn't remember much about him coming into the store that day. But she remembers what he looked like. "He was tall and handsome," she said. Neal said the next time he saw Murlene she was sitting on a piano bench in church getting ready to play for services. Neal and Murlene went to church together for four years before he ever asked her for a date. "One Sunday I asked to bring her to the Epworth League and she said "yes."" The next Friday he asked her to go to a ball game with him. "After that I saw her real often for about four months, until we were married," Neal said. The couple were married on Sunday afternoon in February 1934. Compromise, along with peace and joy from God, are the building blocks the Kennedy's say are important to maintaining their relationship. The relationship helped them over many rocky times and has made their years together good ones. They owned a variety of businesses over the years: a dairy farm in the Pocasset area, a custom combining operation, a telephone exchange, and a car dealership in Chickasha. Neal was called to the ministry in 1956. He attended Divinity School at Southwestern College in Winfield, Kan., serving several small churches while still in college. He was ordained in 1959. While Neal was in college, Murlene was manager of the Student Union there at Southwestern College. The highlight of that job was an opportunity to entertain the former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt during her visit to Southwestern College. Neal served numerous churches in the Kansas Conference before transferring to the Oklahoma United Methodist conference in 1965, finally retiring in 1978. They settled down to enjoy retirement in Chickasha. Neal still continued to be active with church work and rental property. He served as pastor of Frisco Avenue United Methodist Church for three years after his "so called" retirement. Murlene took up oil painting in 1975 at age 65. She enjoyed it with a passion. Her paintings are now an important and treasured part of the decorations in their childrens and grandchildrens homes. Neal and Murlene Kennedy will welcome friends and family at a small reception at the Christian Care Retirement Village family room on Feb. 21, 2004, from 2 to 4 p.m. No gifts please. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to Grady County Archives: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ok/grady/grady.html