Dr. A. "Doc" Rankin Kennedy Jr.

A gifted scholar, he graduated from high school and began college at the University of Texas at fifteen. At the age when most were getting their high school diplomas, Rankin joined the Armed Forces with a psychology degree serving as a psych medic and earning a bronze star for meritorious service during his time in Korea.

Rankin started graduate studies at Texas A&M after returning stateside, eventually obtaining his doctorate in veterinary medicine. For many years, he had a veterinary practice in Austin, Texas. Later he began work for the USDA from which he would retire.

A voracious reader his entire life, Rankin would begin research on a subject and soon it would become an obsessive hobby. In his lifetime he showed chickens and several breeds of dogs (naming them was one of his joys); he solved numerous puzzles, crosswords, and word searches (stumped only by the April Fool’s Word Search given by staff at CCV- none of the words listed were contained in the letter square, but a determined Rankin searched most of the day); he was a Master Gardener who grew over 150 types of day lilies; and Rankin was a prolific quilt piecer whose goal was to eventually make a quilt for each of his great grandchildren.

However, it was his family Rankin most loved and enjoyed. He married Dorothy Manning in 1952 and shared more than 66 years of friendship, family, and faith. They were blessed with daughters Nella (Lionel) Spanke and Jane Douglas; sons Russell (Karen) and George (Elizabeth) Kennedy, as well as ten grandchildren; and fifteen great grandchildren.

A visitation will be at Gross Funeral Home Chapel on Thursday, May 23 from 5-7 pm. A memorial service will be at Country Club Village at 1:30pm on Sunday, May 26. Burial will be June 22 at Ft Douglas Cemetery in Hagarville, Arkansas.

The family would like to thank Arkansas Heart Hospital, Dr. Andrew Henry, Dr. Ted Faro, Dr. Manjusha Kota, Hospice Home Care, Rankin’s caregiver Sheila Pier, and his First Baptist Church of Hot Springs family.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in honor of Rankin Kennedy to the Arkansas Children’s Allergy and Asthma Research Fund, c/o Arkansas Children’s Hospital Foundation, 11 Children’s Way, Little Rock, AR 72202.