Marshall Randolph Kennedy was the son of Little Rock druggist Claude Ernest Kennedy and his wife Era S. Marshall Kennedy. He had one older sibling, Claude Ernest Kennedy, Jr., who was a noted jazz pianist in Los Angeles.
~~~
The World Newspaper
Coos Bay, Coos County, Oregon
Tuesday, November 5, 1996
MARSHALL R. KENNEDY
COQUILLE - Memorial services for Marshall Kennedy, 81, of Coquille, will be held at 2 p.m. Friday at St. James Episcopal Church in Coquille.
He was born Nov. 13, 1914, in Leola, Ark., and died Nov. 2, 1996, at his home in Coquille.
He was a physician and surgeon in Coquille for 40 years.
He grew up in Little Rock, Ark. He showed an early and lasting interest in music, learning to play the trumpet at age 8. He graduated from Little Rock's Central High School, where he was the youngest student conductor of the orchestra in its history.
At 16, he entered the University of Oklahoma, following his brother, Claude Ernest Kennedy. Claude, who eventually became a well-known jazz pianist in Los Angeles, used his influence to give Marshall the trumpet spot in the University's famous nine-member jazz band, The Boomers. Every weekend, from 1930 to 1934, The Boomers played for the dances and parties throughout the South. Dr. Kennedy often said that because of The Boomers, he and his family never knew the Depression. He was a master and encyclopedia of New Orleans-style jazz, often playing drop-in spots with other professional bands, such as Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong. In the heavily segregated South of the 1930s, it was a great honor to be included with these legendary musicians.
In 1934, Dr. Kennedy entered the University of Oklahoma Medical School and, upon completion, accepted an internship at Good Samaritan Hospital in Portland. While there, he was introduced to Dr. Jack Rankin, a practicing physician in Coquille and founder/builder of Coquille's first hospital. He accepted a job with Dr. Rankin and Dr. Leland Gould and moved to Coquille in 1941. Shortly thereafter, he met Mary Margaret Gedney of Eugene who was spending the summer in Coquille. They were married in 1942, and celebrated their 54th wedding anniversary in January 1996.
Dr. Kennedy had already accepted a commission as physician and surgeon in the U.S. Navy and from 1942 to 1945 he served on the U.S.S. Onslow in The Philippines, where he rose to the rank of lieutenant commander.
In 1945, Dr. Kennedy returned with his young family to Coquille and accepted a partnership with Drs. Rankin and Gould. Together they built the first Coquille Clinic and began a low-cost insurance program for local millworkers, which continued for many years. Dr. Kennedy was held in highest esteem by his Oregon colleagues, many of whom considered him to be the finest diagnostician in the state, according to his family.
Dr. Kennedy loved and respected his patients and his practice, and was always accessible to anyone who needed him. The respect and affection was returned many times, but never as surprisingly as in the mid-1950s when the town of Coquille held a secret write-in campaign to elect him to the school board. He was shocked to find himself announced the winner in the newspaper the next day.
Dr. Kennedy considered himself among the luckiest and happiest of all men, according to his family. After retirement, he traded his medical bag for his trumpet case and enjoyed entertaining his neighbors at the family cabin at Floras Lake with surprise serenades and his special New Orleans-style rendition of Taps, played at sundown from the middle of the lake in a leaky rowboat. Dr. Kennedy was a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity and several honorary academic and medical fraternities.
Survivors include his wife, Mary Margaret Kennedy; daughters and sons-in-law, Dana Kennedy Dimmick and John Dimmick of Benbow, Calif.; Sarah Kennedy Roth and Edwin Roth of Aspen, Col.; grandchildren, Thomas Marshall Dimmick, [step-grandchildren] Jan Elizabeth Kaidi, Sarah Jane Melde, Lacey, Aldi, Corey and Cullen Roth.
He was preceded in death by his brother.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial contributions to South Coast Hospice, 1620 Thompson Road, Coos Bay, OR 97420; or to St. James Episcopal Church, 210 East Third Street, Coquille, 97423.
Amling/Schroeder Funeral Service, Coquille, is in charge of arrangements.
~~~
The World Newspaper
Coos Bay, Coos County, Oregon
Tuesday, November 5, 1996
MARSHALL R. KENNEDY
COQUILLE - Memorial services for Marshall Kennedy, 81, of Coquille, will be held at 2 p.m. Friday at St. James Episcopal Church in Coquille.
He was born Nov. 13, 1914, in Leola, Ark., and died Nov. 2, 1996, at his home in Coquille.
He was a physician and surgeon in Coquille for 40 years.
He grew up in Little Rock, Ark. He showed an early and lasting interest in music, learning to play the trumpet at age 8. He graduated from Little Rock's Central High School, where he was the youngest student conductor of the orchestra in its history.
At 16, he entered the University of Oklahoma, following his brother, Claude Ernest Kennedy. Claude, who eventually became a well-known jazz pianist in Los Angeles, used his influence to give Marshall the trumpet spot in the University's famous nine-member jazz band, The Boomers. Every weekend, from 1930 to 1934, The Boomers played for the dances and parties throughout the South. Dr. Kennedy often said that because of The Boomers, he and his family never knew the Depression. He was a master and encyclopedia of New Orleans-style jazz, often playing drop-in spots with other professional bands, such as Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong. In the heavily segregated South of the 1930s, it was a great honor to be included with these legendary musicians.
In 1934, Dr. Kennedy entered the University of Oklahoma Medical School and, upon completion, accepted an internship at Good Samaritan Hospital in Portland. While there, he was introduced to Dr. Jack Rankin, a practicing physician in Coquille and founder/builder of Coquille's first hospital. He accepted a job with Dr. Rankin and Dr. Leland Gould and moved to Coquille in 1941. Shortly thereafter, he met Mary Margaret Gedney of Eugene who was spending the summer in Coquille. They were married in 1942, and celebrated their 54th wedding anniversary in January 1996.
Dr. Kennedy had already accepted a commission as physician and surgeon in the U.S. Navy and from 1942 to 1945 he served on the U.S.S. Onslow in The Philippines, where he rose to the rank of lieutenant commander.
In 1945, Dr. Kennedy returned with his young family to Coquille and accepted a partnership with Drs. Rankin and Gould. Together they built the first Coquille Clinic and began a low-cost insurance program for local millworkers, which continued for many years. Dr. Kennedy was held in highest esteem by his Oregon colleagues, many of whom considered him to be the finest diagnostician in the state, according to his family.
Dr. Kennedy loved and respected his patients and his practice, and was always accessible to anyone who needed him. The respect and affection was returned many times, but never as surprisingly as in the mid-1950s when the town of Coquille held a secret write-in campaign to elect him to the school board. He was shocked to find himself announced the winner in the newspaper the next day.
Dr. Kennedy considered himself among the luckiest and happiest of all men, according to his family. After retirement, he traded his medical bag for his trumpet case and enjoyed entertaining his neighbors at the family cabin at Floras Lake with surprise serenades and his special New Orleans-style rendition of Taps, played at sundown from the middle of the lake in a leaky rowboat. Dr. Kennedy was a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity and several honorary academic and medical fraternities.
Survivors include his wife, Mary Margaret Kennedy; daughters and sons-in-law, Dana Kennedy Dimmick and John Dimmick of Benbow, Calif.; Sarah Kennedy Roth and Edwin Roth of Aspen, Col.; grandchildren, Thomas Marshall Dimmick, [step-grandchildren] Jan Elizabeth Kaidi, Sarah Jane Melde, Lacey, Aldi, Corey and Cullen Roth.
He was preceded in death by his brother.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial contributions to South Coast Hospice, 1620 Thompson Road, Coos Bay, OR 97420; or to St. James Episcopal Church, 210 East Third Street, Coquille, 97423.
Amling/Schroeder Funeral Service, Coquille, is in charge of arrangements.
Marshall Randolph Kennedy was the son of Little Rock druggist Claude Ernest Kennedy and his wife Era S. Marshall Kennedy. He had one older sibling, Claude Ernest Kennedy, Jr., who was a noted jazz pianist in Los Angeles.
~~~
The World Newspaper
Coos Bay, Coos County, Oregon
Tuesday, November 5, 1996
MARSHALL R. KENNEDY
COQUILLE - Memorial services for Marshall Kennedy, 81, of Coquille, will be held at 2 p.m. Friday at St. James Episcopal Church in Coquille.
He was born Nov. 13, 1914, in Leola, Ark., and died Nov. 2, 1996, at his home in Coquille.
He was a physician and surgeon in Coquille for 40 years.
He grew up in Little Rock, Ark. He showed an early and lasting interest in music, learning to play the trumpet at age 8. He graduated from Little Rock's Central High School, where he was the youngest student conductor of the orchestra in its history.
At 16, he entered the University of Oklahoma, following his brother, Claude Ernest Kennedy. Claude, who eventually became a well-known jazz pianist in Los Angeles, used his influence to give Marshall the trumpet spot in the University's famous nine-member jazz band, The Boomers. Every weekend, from 1930 to 1934, The Boomers played for the dances and parties throughout the South. Dr. Kennedy often said that because of The Boomers, he and his family never knew the Depression. He was a master and encyclopedia of New Orleans-style jazz, often playing drop-in spots with other professional bands, such as Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong. In the heavily segregated South of the 1930s, it was a great honor to be included with these legendary musicians.
In 1934, Dr. Kennedy entered the University of Oklahoma Medical School and, upon completion, accepted an internship at Good Samaritan Hospital in Portland. While there, he was introduced to Dr. Jack Rankin, a practicing physician in Coquille and founder/builder of Coquille's first hospital. He accepted a job with Dr. Rankin and Dr. Leland Gould and moved to Coquille in 1941. Shortly thereafter, he met Mary Margaret Gedney of Eugene who was spending the summer in Coquille. They were married in 1942, and celebrated their 54th wedding anniversary in January 1996.
Dr. Kennedy had already accepted a commission as physician and surgeon in the U.S. Navy and from 1942 to 1945 he served on the U.S.S. Onslow in The Philippines, where he rose to the rank of lieutenant commander.
In 1945, Dr. Kennedy returned with his young family to Coquille and accepted a partnership with Drs. Rankin and Gould. Together they built the first Coquille Clinic and began a low-cost insurance program for local millworkers, which continued for many years. Dr. Kennedy was held in highest esteem by his Oregon colleagues, many of whom considered him to be the finest diagnostician in the state, according to his family.
Dr. Kennedy loved and respected his patients and his practice, and was always accessible to anyone who needed him. The respect and affection was returned many times, but never as surprisingly as in the mid-1950s when the town of Coquille held a secret write-in campaign to elect him to the school board. He was shocked to find himself announced the winner in the newspaper the next day.
Dr. Kennedy considered himself among the luckiest and happiest of all men, according to his family. After retirement, he traded his medical bag for his trumpet case and enjoyed entertaining his neighbors at the family cabin at Floras Lake with surprise serenades and his special New Orleans-style rendition of Taps, played at sundown from the middle of the lake in a leaky rowboat. Dr. Kennedy was a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity and several honorary academic and medical fraternities.
Survivors include his wife, Mary Margaret Kennedy; daughters and sons-in-law, Dana Kennedy Dimmick and John Dimmick of Benbow, Calif.; Sarah Kennedy Roth and Edwin Roth of Aspen, Col.; grandchildren, Thomas Marshall Dimmick, [step-grandchildren] Jan Elizabeth Kaidi, Sarah Jane Melde, Lacey, Aldi, Corey and Cullen Roth.
He was preceded in death by his brother.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial contributions to South Coast Hospice, 1620 Thompson Road, Coos Bay, OR 97420; or to St. James Episcopal Church, 210 East Third Street, Coquille, 97423.
Amling/Schroeder Funeral Service, Coquille, is in charge of arrangements.
~~~
The World Newspaper
Coos Bay, Coos County, Oregon
Tuesday, November 5, 1996
MARSHALL R. KENNEDY
COQUILLE - Memorial services for Marshall Kennedy, 81, of Coquille, will be held at 2 p.m. Friday at St. James Episcopal Church in Coquille.
He was born Nov. 13, 1914, in Leola, Ark., and died Nov. 2, 1996, at his home in Coquille.
He was a physician and surgeon in Coquille for 40 years.
He grew up in Little Rock, Ark. He showed an early and lasting interest in music, learning to play the trumpet at age 8. He graduated from Little Rock's Central High School, where he was the youngest student conductor of the orchestra in its history.
At 16, he entered the University of Oklahoma, following his brother, Claude Ernest Kennedy. Claude, who eventually became a well-known jazz pianist in Los Angeles, used his influence to give Marshall the trumpet spot in the University's famous nine-member jazz band, The Boomers. Every weekend, from 1930 to 1934, The Boomers played for the dances and parties throughout the South. Dr. Kennedy often said that because of The Boomers, he and his family never knew the Depression. He was a master and encyclopedia of New Orleans-style jazz, often playing drop-in spots with other professional bands, such as Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong. In the heavily segregated South of the 1930s, it was a great honor to be included with these legendary musicians.
In 1934, Dr. Kennedy entered the University of Oklahoma Medical School and, upon completion, accepted an internship at Good Samaritan Hospital in Portland. While there, he was introduced to Dr. Jack Rankin, a practicing physician in Coquille and founder/builder of Coquille's first hospital. He accepted a job with Dr. Rankin and Dr. Leland Gould and moved to Coquille in 1941. Shortly thereafter, he met Mary Margaret Gedney of Eugene who was spending the summer in Coquille. They were married in 1942, and celebrated their 54th wedding anniversary in January 1996.
Dr. Kennedy had already accepted a commission as physician and surgeon in the U.S. Navy and from 1942 to 1945 he served on the U.S.S. Onslow in The Philippines, where he rose to the rank of lieutenant commander.
In 1945, Dr. Kennedy returned with his young family to Coquille and accepted a partnership with Drs. Rankin and Gould. Together they built the first Coquille Clinic and began a low-cost insurance program for local millworkers, which continued for many years. Dr. Kennedy was held in highest esteem by his Oregon colleagues, many of whom considered him to be the finest diagnostician in the state, according to his family.
Dr. Kennedy loved and respected his patients and his practice, and was always accessible to anyone who needed him. The respect and affection was returned many times, but never as surprisingly as in the mid-1950s when the town of Coquille held a secret write-in campaign to elect him to the school board. He was shocked to find himself announced the winner in the newspaper the next day.
Dr. Kennedy considered himself among the luckiest and happiest of all men, according to his family. After retirement, he traded his medical bag for his trumpet case and enjoyed entertaining his neighbors at the family cabin at Floras Lake with surprise serenades and his special New Orleans-style rendition of Taps, played at sundown from the middle of the lake in a leaky rowboat. Dr. Kennedy was a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity and several honorary academic and medical fraternities.
Survivors include his wife, Mary Margaret Kennedy; daughters and sons-in-law, Dana Kennedy Dimmick and John Dimmick of Benbow, Calif.; Sarah Kennedy Roth and Edwin Roth of Aspen, Col.; grandchildren, Thomas Marshall Dimmick, [step-grandchildren] Jan Elizabeth Kaidi, Sarah Jane Melde, Lacey, Aldi, Corey and Cullen Roth.
He was preceded in death by his brother.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial contributions to South Coast Hospice, 1620 Thompson Road, Coos Bay, OR 97420; or to St. James Episcopal Church, 210 East Third Street, Coquille, 97423.
Amling/Schroeder Funeral Service, Coquille, is in charge of arrangements.
