On May 8, 2012, God sent His angels for our mother, Ruth B. Kennedy of Gloucester. She departed this life with her family by her side to be present with the Lord. She was 90 years old.

Ruth was born and raised in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee. She married Lyman Kennedy, Sr. in 1945 and began her life as a military wife. Ruth enjoyed the many places they lived and traveled and the friends she met over the years. In the 1960s she settled in Hampton with her husband and family. Upon her husband’s death, she moved to Gloucester to be near her daughter and was blessed with many years of gardening, traveling, spending time with her family and inspiring them with the word of God. She was a member of Petsworth Baptist Church. She was a very loving wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother and will be deeply missed.

Ruth was preceded in death by her husband, Lyman; parents, William Newell and Emma Baxter; two brothers and two sisters.

Left to forever cherish her memory are her children, Nancy Ashe and husband Bill, Lyman and wife Judy, William E. and wife Nancy, Emma Jean Kennedy-Arney and husband Tom, Michael W. and wife Susie and Robert A. Kennedy; a sister Polly Cantrell of Murfreesboro, Tn.; brother Joe Baxter and wife Bessie of Waco, Tx.; 14 grandchildren, 26 great-grandchildren and one great great-grandchild; and a host of nieces and nephews.

A Celebration of Life service officiated by Reverend W. Donald Ambrose was held 1:30 p.m. Saturday, May 12, 2012 at Hogg Funeral Home, Gloucester Point. Interment followed in Parklawn Memorial Park, Hampton. The family received friends prior to the service on Saturday from 12:30 until 1:30 p.m. at the funeral home.