Audrey Ruth Smith Kennedy

Audrey Ruth Smith Kennedy, with her family present, passed away March 16, 2006 at the age of 83 after a lengthy and courageous battle with cancer. She was born on January 18, 1923, in Woodville, Texas, one of four children, and the only daughter, of Judge Clyde Earl and Eupha Smith. She graduated from Woodville High School in 1939 and earned a BS in business administration from Stephen F. Austin State Teachers’ College in Nacogdoches, Texas in 1944. Before graduating, she taught high school at Colmesniel and Hull-Daisetta, Texas. During her senior year at Stephen F. Austin, Audrey met Captain Kenneth Wade Kennedy of Nacogdoches, who was home on a short leave following combat in North Africa and Italy. They were married in Woodville on June 17, 1944 and began their life of more than 61 years together. After the end of World War II, Audrey enthusiastically embraced the hectic life of a US Army wife, accompanying her husband wherever possible and setting up households in over ten states and three different countries. During their 30-year tour of duty together, Audrey gave birth to three children, while living all over the world and supporting her husband’s career as he rose to the rank of Brigadier General in the Army Corps of Engineers. Audrey kept busy as a Cub Scout den mother, Brownie leader, and perennial PTA room mother; she also made time to serve as a Red Cross volunteer and nurse’s aid at every post along the way. She was an active member and leader of military wives’ clubs and she worked tirelessly to organize and administer military dependent child day care centers. Audrey Kennedy’s upbringing prepared her well for the social and political demands of being an Army officer’s wife: her father served the State of Texas as an Assistant Secretary of State and long-time Justice of the Texas Supreme Court. As a result, she learned at a young age how to entertain and make others feel comfortable. She never forgot a name and remembered personal details about everyone she met. Audrey and Ken explored Greece in the early 50’s, before tourism, with the help of only the Bible and a French guidebook. The couple’s next overseas assignment found them in Japan, where Ken built her a small house so that she and their young son, Ken Jr., could join him there. Their final overseas posting together was in Frankfurt, Germany, where Ken served as Commanding General of the U.S. Army Engineer Command, Europe and Audrey was the gracious hostess for many social events. Audrey and Ken also had to deal with tragic adversity when they lost their second child, Debbie, to cancer at the age of four. Audrey’s strength of character and perseverance held their young family—including sixteen-year-old Ken, Jr. and their four-month-old baby daughter Susan—together through this very difficult time. When they retired from Army life, Audrey, Ken and Susan moved from Frankfurt to Lakeway, Texas and built their dream home on the 6th fairway of the Live Oak Golf Course. Audrey lovingly and beautifully decorated and furnished their home with items she and Ken had collected from all over the world. She quickly found herself again organizing and entertaining, now for the benefit of their new hometown, the young and growing community of Lakeway. Audrey was an early supporter of the Lakeway Church, where she helped raise funds for the construction of the first church building and organized the first teenage study group. She later served as member of the church governing board. Although small of stature, Audrey was an outstanding athlete. In Greece, she won the Kifissia Tennis Club championship and was the official representative of Greece in an international tennis tournament. She took up golf in 1955 and won numerous club championships including the Lakeway Ladies Championship of 1973 and 1975. She was an accomplished ballroom dancer, the rumba being her favorite, a fearless sailor, and a clever bridge player. Throughout her life she remained a teacher, offering classes on ballroom dancing and assisting in tennis clinics for teenagers. Audrey Kennedy was preceded in death by her daughter Debra Lynn Kennedy, by her parents, and by three brothers, Clyde, Joe and Gerald Smith. She is survived by her husband Brigadier General (ret) Kenneth Wade Kennedy of Lakeway, Texas; her daughter Susan Baxter Kennedy, of Houston, Texas; her son, Professor Kenneth Wade Kennedy, Jr., daughter-in-law, Carol, and granddaughter, Caitlin, of Houston; and many other loving family members and friends. Burial will be at the Magnolia Cemetery in Woodville, Texas at 2:00 p.m. Monday, March 20, 2006. A memorial service will be held at the Lakeway Church at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, March 25, 2006. Friends and family are invited to gather for a reception immediately following at the Lakeway Church Fellowship Hall. Contributions in her name may be made to the Lakeway Church or charity of your choice. Funeral arrangements are by Weed Corley Fish Funeral Home, Austin, Texas. Obituary and guestbook on line at wcfish.com