Lavon was born on December 21, 1928, in Springfield, Tennessee, to John Herman and Mary Burnett Clinard. When she was in the seventh grade her family moved to Clarksville, Tennessee, where she graduated from Clarksville High School and soon after married her high school sweetheart, Charlie Kendrick. Lavon and Charlie settled in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where they raised their daughter, Karen. Lavon worked in the oices of Baylor School, Carden and Sims Food Brokers, First Baptist Church, and Mississippi Valley Steel, enabling her husband to complete both his master's degree and his doctorate.
Lavon was dedicated to her family, her home, and her church. She loved to sew and in her later years found much joy in baking
cookies and giving them away at Christmas to anyone she knew. Lavon was a member of First Baptist Church in Chattanooga, where she worked with the babies in the nursery for many years.
Lavon was preceded in death by her parents, her sister Margaret Oakley and brother Robert C. Clinard, and her husband Charles A. Kendrick. She is survived by her daughter Karen and husband Larry Shuford of Charlotte; granddaughter Katie Lehman and husband
Jonathan of Charlotte, and grandson Charlie Shuford of Hickory; great-grandsons Austin and Cooper Lehman of Charlotte; and several generations of nieces and nephews.
A funeral service will be held in the chapel of Chattanooga Funeral Home, North Chapel, on Monday, December 22, 2025, at 11:00 a.m. with Dr. Thomas Quisenberry officiating.
The family will receive friends prior to the service from 10:00 a.m. until service time.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to First Baptist Church Chattanooga, 401 Gateway Ave, Chattanooga, TN 37402 for the Shower Ministry or Worship Care Ministry.
