Obituary of Peter Kennedy

Peter J. Kennedy, 69, died of cancer at the Ozark Care Center, Osage Beach, Missouri on Thursday, May 22, 2008. He was born in New York, NY on February 1, 1939, the first of four sons of Lois M. Essenwein of Davenport, Iowa and George E. Kennedy of Middleboro, MA. Peter grew up in Charlotte, NC, Norwood, MA, Rockford, IL and Stamford, CT, graduating from Stamford High School in 1956. He earned the B.A.(1960) and M.A. (1963) degrees in music education from the University of Connecticut, Storrs and took a position as a music teacher and choral director at JFK Junior High School and later at Waltham High School, Waltham, MA. He taught music, conducted choral groups, and produced choral recitals, concerts, and musical comedies for 19 years in Waltham. During that time, he was president of the local organization of the National Education Association and was Past Master of the Waltham Masonic Lodge. He also directed the choir of the First Lutheran Church of Waltham for several years. His former students in Waltham remember him as their best supporter, promoter, and mentor, challenging them to do work they never thought they could achieve. In 1982, Peter moved to Sarasota, FL to care for his mother in the last years of her life. He held positions there as business manager of the New College Music Festival and traffic and information manager for Fluor Daniel (now Fluor Corporation). Fluor later transferred him to Dayton, OH where he completed a contract with them and then moved on to provide office managing and accounting skills to several area businesses in Dayton and Miamisburg, OH. In 2005, he moved for the last time to Eldon, MO to be nearer his brother, Bruce, and his family. He worked for over a year in the auditing and bookkeeping area of Tan-Tar-A Resort in Osage Beach. Peter had numerous interests and skills he taught himself over his adult life, ranging from carpentry and woodworking to cooking and catering to accounting and information management. But music and teaching were his first and enduring interests, and he touched many lives with them. He was a man of strong opinions, held in a gentle heart. His parents and his brother, William, predeceased him; he is survived by his brothers, George, of Pullman, WA and Bruce, of Osage Beach, MO and by six nieces and nephews.