Virginia Lee Kennett

Virginia Lee Kennett was born in Dodge City, KS, on February 19, 1931, to Homer and Bertha Reddy during the Depression years. Virginia (“Ginny”) had one older brother, Melvin (“Mel”). As sister and brother, they shared adjacent bedrooms on the upstairs floor of their Dodge City home on Avenue C.

Virginia attended all her primary and secondary school years in Dodge City. She entered Dodge City High School at the close of World War II and graduated in 1949. Following, she was accepted to the Bethany School of Nursing in Kansas City, KS, and thereafter resided in the Kansas City Greater Area for the remainder of her life. She graduated from Bethany in 1954 and would work most of her nursing career at Shawnee Mission Medical Center, now Advent Health.

She married Don Charles Kennett in 1955. They had met in high school and shared a platonic acquaintance, then reconnected after graduation once initial life directions had ensued. The reconnection turned to romance, engagement, and a wedding. Their emerging family soon became the real center of Virginia’s heart and life. She became a mother to three girls (Dawn Ann in 1956, Sara Lynn in 1959, and Jana Lee in 1962). A working mom, Virginia stayed true to her felt calling as a nurse through all her child-raising years and served countless night shifts in order to best care for the girls and keep up with home care.

She and Don served as long dedicated members of Shawnee United Methodist Church and were involved actively for over sixty years. Virginia had a special place in her heart for medical missions. She served on numerous medical mission trips with the United Methodists and Adventist Missions, traveling to Mexico, Tanzania, and Brazil. She shared a particular interest in Christian missions to North American indigenous tribes, especially in the Midwest region, a passion that would influence her firstborn daughter, Dawn Ann, who developed a love for Indian lore and customs.

She and Don took regular family trips accompanied by their children and grandchildren. They devotedly attended innumerable football, baseball, and softball games, cheerleading events, musical concerts, competitions, and graduations for the following generations of their family. They took several travels to countries on the South American continent in support of second daughter Sara and her family, who were involved in Christian missions.

Later, Virginia gave much grandma love to eleven grandchildren and twenty-two great-grandchildren. Virginia and Don shared a long and happy marriage for sixty-two years until Don passed away in 2017.

In her single-again years as a widow, Virginia continued active involvement with many friendships and specifically stayed in touch with Shawnee Mission Medical Center’s retired nurses, even for three decades following retirement. During her final months, she could be found meeting up with longtime nurse colleagues from many years ago.

During her declining years, third daughter Jana and husband Michael (“Bear”) chose to move in with her, into the longstanding family home in Shawnee to tend to her needs, look after her safety, and provide general company and support.

“The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places,” quotes Psalm 16. The home in Shawnee that Virginia established long ago with Don has become the regular, pleasant gathering place for the entire family, in celebration of birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, holidays, and general barbecues. Everyone routinely packs into the home’s “great room,” where conversations typically ensue for several hours among four – now three – generations.

Virginia passed away at age 93 on October 11, 2024, at Kansas City Hospice, MO, following a protracted struggle against lymphoma. She is fondly admired and will be held dearly in the hearts of her children and their families.

Memorial services will be held on Friday, November 22, 2024 at Shawnee United Methodist Church at 10:30 am. 

Memorial contributions may be made to Shawnee United Methodist Church, 10700 Johnson Drive, Shawnee, KS 66203 to donate CLICK HERE or Four Corners Home for Children, PO Box 1230, Farmington, NM 87499 to donate CLICK HERE