Mary Loftus Kennedy died September 17th in Providence, RI. Born December 2, 1916, in Scranton, PA, a city she loved, Mary was the daughter of Edward Jerome and Mary Gavin Loftus. A loyal graduate of both Marywood Seminary and Marywood College, she was married in Scranton to Eugene (Gene) Kennedy and moved with him to Whitinsville, Massachusetts where they lived for over forty years. Gene died in 2005. In Whitinsville Mary developed an interest is community service as a volunteer for many organizations and as president of the Visiting Nurses Association. She also developed a talent for the game of bridge, a skill she would hone over the next twenty years playing duplicate bridge in Charlotte, North Carolina and in all the years since. In Charlotte Mary studied writing and literature and was a devoted docent of American Art at the Mint Museum. After Gene’s retirement, they moved to Scarsdale, New York and divided time between New York and Westport Point, Massachusetts where their extended family continued to grow and gather every summer for long days at the beach and happy evenings of games in the yard and dinner on the deck.They moved to Providence in 2002 to be near Westport and in the ensuing years Mary made close and enduring friendships at Laurelmead. In these years, too, a love for the Red Sox and the Celtics became a passion and if you thought a baseball trade or a basketball strategy was questionable you had only to ask Mary Kennedy to be set straight.
Mary is survived by her children, Eugene (Peggy, New York City), Mary Ellen (Westport, MA), Barbara Slaight (Tom, Providence, RI) and John (and the late Catherine Reid, Geneva, Switzerland). She is survived, too, by six beloved grandchildren, Gene Kennedy (Susannah), Austin Kennedy (Anja), Evan Kennedy (Sudha Setty), Jane Kennedy (Arturo García Alonso), John Slaight and Jill Slaight (Patrick Kelly). She leaves behind eight wonderful great grandchildren - Nolan and Keely Kennedy, Sebastian and Louise Kennedy, Maya and Kiran Kennedy, and Felix and Samuel García-Kennedy - as well as Loftus nieces, great nieces and nephews, and cousins young and old. They all called her “Grammy” and will miss her very much. She was a modern matriarch for her family and for her Westport and Laurelmead friends.
Calling hours will be Friday, September 20, 4:00 - 7:00 p.m. at Potter Funeral Home.
Funeral service will be at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, September 21 at St. John the Baptist Church, 945 Main Road, also in Westport.
Interment will be in Beech Grove Cemetery, Westport.