Stiles Compton"Mike"Kennedy

Stiles Compton "Mike" Kennedy III, 86, of Baton Rouge, passed away at 11:40 a.m. Friday, Aug. 19, 2011, at home. Born in Harriman, Tenn., on May 12, 1925, Mike grew up in Sarasota, Fla., and became a Baton Rouge resident in 1955. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II in the Pacific campaigns of Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Saipan and Guam and was awarded the Navy Cross and the Bronze Star. Mike was a member of St. James Episcopal Church for 56 years, where he served as a Sunday school teacher, an usher, and as a member of the Associate Vestry. He was an office manager for DeFrances Marble and Tile Company for 56 years and a friend to many in the flooring industry. An avid HAM radio operator, Mike was past president of the Baton Rouge Amateur Radio Club and a member of the Southwest Traffic Net under the call letters WB5COO. During the Vietnam War, he used HAM radio to enable military personnel on transport ships to talk to their families. After the Vietnam War, he used HAM radio to connect children awaiting operations at Shriners Hospitals in Shreveport and Corpus Christi, Texas, with family members and friends. He also taught the licensing class for people seeking to become HAM radio operators. He received a lifetime achievement award from the Baton Rouge Amateur Radio Club in 1984. Along with his late wife, Doris, he was a foster parent for more than 40 children, and throughout his life, supported charities that provided programs and services for children in need. He loved the outdoors and was an avid bass fisherman for most of his life. He was preceded in death by his parents, Stiles Compton Kennedy Jr. and Dyllis Hendricks Kennedy; brother, Henry Winslow Kennedy; sisters, Dr. Elsie Kennedy and Dyllis Kennedy; daughter-in-law, Patricia Fulton Kennedy; and his wife of 43 years, Doris Arnold Kennedy. He is survived by a brother, William Kennedy, of Sarasota; sons, Todd Wilson Turpin, of Baton Rouge, and Michael J. Stiles Kennedy and wife Debbie, of Shreveport; daughter, Karen LaRee Kennedy, of Baton Rouge; and grandsons, Stiles Christopher Kennedy, of Shreveport, and David Robert Kennedy, of Longview, Texas. Visitation at Rabenhorst Funeral Home, 825 Government St., on Tuesday, Aug. 23, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Visiting at St. James Episcopal Church on Wednesday from 9 a.m. until funeral service at 11 a.m., conducted by the Rev. Mark Holland, rector of St. James Episcopal Church. Pallbearers include Sidney Allison, E.A. "Tony" DeFrances, William Jennings, Ron Morrison, Paul Overland and Reid Penton. Honorary pallbearers are Jack Ensminger, Cecil Harper and Edward Dalton Summers. Internment at Resthaven Gardens of Memory. The family extends a heartfelt thanks to Dr. Jeffrey Kahn, Dr. John McLachlan and Hospice of Baton Rouge for their excellent care. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to the Arthritis Association of Louisiana or Our Lady of the Lake Children's Hospital.   >