Kathryn Ann Kennedy

Kathryn Ann (Kay) Kennedy, of Bellevue, Iowa and formerly of Dubuque and Corning, passed away peacefully on Saturday, February 28th at the age of 92.

Kay was born on August 6, 1933, at home in Creston, Iowa, to Louise and Gene Brotherton. She grew up in Creston and graduated from high school in 1951. She went on to work in Des Moines as a telephone operator, before meeting Louie Kennedy of Corning, at the Chicken Inn dance hall between Creston and Corning one weekend. They likely were dancing to Al Martino’s “I Love You Because”.

Kay and Louie married in 1960 and settled in Corning, where they lived in the same house and acreage for the 57 years of their marriage, before Louie died in 2017 at the age of 85.

For several years, Kay was a stay-at-home mom. She then went to work as a secretary at the Corning Chevrolet Garage and later as a secretary in the Relief Office and then the County Engineer’s office, both at the Adams County Courthouse, where she retired from. She put her organizational skills to good use in those positions. She was an excellent typist, writer and file keeper.

She carried those organizational skills into life at home and managed a full calendar of events for Jan and Greg, and she and Louie attended countless school activities (football and basketball games, track meets, school plays, band and chorus concerts, dance recitals and more). Then, when Jan and Greg were each married and had kids, she and Louie attended countless ball games, hosted summer vacations in Corning, and later attended weddings and baptisms for their adored grandkids and greats.

Family was everything to Kay, and she was known for organizing many, many family dinners, parties and family reunions at their home. Whether it was for siblings, in-laws and cousins, or friends and neighbors, there was always plenty to eat, cold drinks and good laughs. She never met a party she didn’t like.

Kay was very sociable and loved being around people, making conversations, and developing friendships. She was a role model for her kids, and taught them the value of hard work, being a trusted friend, and volunteering. She was an outstanding Mom.

She was also artistic and creative. There were too many homemade (and award-winning) Halloween and UNICEF parade costumes to count; she was a beautiful seamstress and made clothes for Jan throughout her life, including her wedding dress. She went onto make fun and treasured clothes for her grandkids. She even made ‘clothes’ for Greg’s hunting dogs and patched countless pairs of his pants.

Kay was an accomplished oil painter, and the family is all blessed to have pieces of her work hanging in their homes. She did many landscape paintings that depicted favorite spots where she and Louie traveled, which was another passion of hers. They took many trips after retirement, as well as traveling with Jan to Europe once, and taking several cherished ‘girl trips’ with her best friends, Myrna, Jan and Kathy.

She loved to decorate her home, crochet gifts for others, was a voracious reader, played bridge for years in two clubs, and tended to her flower beds and pots when living in Corning. She was a bird lover and kept the feeders full in their backyard.

Volunteering was a big part of Kay’s life, and she instilled that ‘giving back’ mentality in Jan and Greg. She was a member of the Corning Roseanne’s, the Altar Society, co-planned the funeral dinners at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church for 15 years, was a Girl Scout leader, volunteered at the hospital, and helped at the Corning Art Center.

Kay stayed in Corning for one year after Louie died, before making the decision to move to Dubuque to be closer to her daughter, Jan Powers. She lived in an independent senior community in Dubuque for five years and then moved to Bellevue to an independent apartment complex, where Jan and Mike had retired. She spent three years there and the last six weeks of her life at Mill Valley Care Center in Bellevue.

She is survived by her daughter, Jan Powers (husband Mike) of Bellevue, and their children Danielle Burken (husband Nick) of Sun Prairie, Wisconsin and their children, Kennedy and Carter; and Brad Powers (wife Rachel) of Peosta, Iowa, and their son Wesley, and another great grandson on the way in June; her son Greg Kennedy (wife Amy) of Glenwood, Iowa, and their children Cole Kennedy (wife Maddy), of Glenwood and their daughter Sophia; and Nate Kennedy, of Des Moines; sisters-in-law Carol Kennedy of Mesa, AZ and Michele Brotherton of Grapevine, TX; as well as many treasured nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her in-laws James and Berenice Kennedy, husband Louie, brothers John, Richard and Jim, sisters-in-law Colleen Brotherton, Mary Catherine Young, Dorothy Beard, Marge Kennedy, and Carla Kennedy, brothers-in-law James Kennedy, Harold Young, Bernard Kennedy, Ed Kennedy and Dick Kennedy and nephews Mike and Mark Kennedy, Doug Young, Father Ron Young and niece Ann Beard.

Kay’s wishes were to be cremated and buried with Louie in Corning. That will take place on Thursday, April 16th with a visitation from 3:00 to 7:00 pm, with family receiving friends from 5:00 – 7:00 pm at Pearson Family Funeral Service & Cremation Center in Corning, followed by a Mass of Christian Burial on Friday, April 17th at 10:00 a.m. at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Corning.

Prior to that, a Celebration of Life will be held in Dubuque on Saturday, March 14th from 4:00 to 7:00 pm at Stone Cliff Winery in their Barrel Room. Friends are invited to drop in and visit.

Memorials can be given to the family, as well as to the Corning Public Library and the Bellevue Public Library. They can be sent to Pearson Funeral Home, 701 7th Street, Corning, Iowa, 50841.

Special thanks to Mill Valley Care Center in Bellevue for the excellent and loving care shown to Mom in the last six weeks of her life, as well as to Hospice of Dubuque for their guidance.

Some of Mom’s favorite sayings were “It is what it is.” She accepted that things weren’t always as she wanted but did her best to move forward. She also said, “Don’t get your name in the paper” when one of her kids or grandkids was about to do something that might be a little ‘risky’ and didn’t want them getting their name on a police blotter somewhere. And her favorite saying, that she repeated even just a few days before her death, was “I love you dearly.” She truly loved her family and friends so, so dearly.

Mom … we all love you dearly and are thankful you are in a wonderful place now, dancing to Al Martino with Dad. And, yes, you are getting your name in the paper on this one.