Oscar Dancy "Dan" Kennerly

Oscar Dancy "Dan" Kennerly, age 93, of Richmond, Texas fought his final battle and emerged victoriously in glory on Friday, October 6, 2023. Dan was born in Houston, Texas on November 25, 1929 to Thomas Everton Kennerly and Georgia Dancy Kennerly.

Dan graduated from Lamar High School in 1948 and then attended Baylor University and Baylor School of Law in Waco, Texas. Dan received his law degree and was admitted to the Texas Bar in 1954. On June 29, 1954 Dan went into the United States Air Force as a second lieutenant at Carswell Air Force Base, Strategic Air Command in Fort Worth, Texas and served as assistant staff judge advocate and eventually as staff judge advocate for the 19th Air Division.

On July 31, 1956 Dan entered the United States District Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas and served as Security Officer for the Southern District of Texas, Chief of the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section and was appointed Chief Criminal Assistant in September 1959.

On August 28, 1961 Dan left the District Attorney's Office and went into the private practice of law. Dan was a partner in several law firms over the years including Sellers, Kennerly, Woodard, Buvens & Hall; Kennerly, Woodard, Hall & Primm; Kennerly & Price, and finally Kennerly & Kennerly where he practiced law for many years with his partners, his father T. E. Kennerly and his son James B. Kennerly.

Dan had a life-long love for history and the study of the Civil War. He is the author of "Forrest at Parker's Crossroads: The Dawn of Lightning War." He was a past member of the Houston Civil War Round Table and of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, Albert Sydney Johnson Camp. He often said, "I should have been a history professor." In practice, he was.

Dan was survived by his wife, Berenda Joyce Kennerly, who has since passed; his son, James B. Kennerly, and wife Caroline; daughter, Suzannah Kennerly Clark and husband Wade; step-daughter Kenni Lucas and husband Michael; sisters Ann Kennerly Royall and Mary Marcia Kennerly and grandchildren Sarah Kennerly Brophy and husband Sean, Katherine Jane McKee and husband Connor, Joshua Everton Kennerly, Siah Thomas Clark and wife Audrey, Rachel Grace Clark and Peter Wade Clark, and numerous nieces and nephews. Dan was preceded in death by his father, Thomas Everton Kennerly, mother Georgia Dancy Kennerly, brother Thomas Everton (Ken) Kennerly, Jr., his former wife, Betijean Harrison Kennerly, (mother of James and Suzannah) and his granddaughter Anna Christen Clements.

Dan will be honored by family and friends at a memorial service to be held Sunday, January 28, 2024 at 11:00 AM at The Settegast-Kopf @ Sugar Creek, 15015 SW FWY, Sugar Land, TX 77478.