James Kendrick

KENDRICK, James Causey, departed this life on December 9, 2009. Born in his Suffolk home September 8, 1918, the son of Mary Douglas Causey and Marion Kelly Kendrick, he attended Virginia Episcopal School and graduated from Fishburne Military Academy. He was a member of Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity at Randolph-Macon College. He was engaged in drafting B-52 and B-24 planes for Consolidated Industries in San Diego and Fort Worth while studying engineering. During WWII, he served in the United States Navy Seabees in the Philippines and across the Pacific Theatre. After the war, he engaged in lumbering in California, returning to Suffolk in 1951 to work with his father's business, Tidewater Brokerage Company. He was a construction engineer for numerous local projects, the most challenging being the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. He was proud to be an Eagle Scout and loved the great outdoors. He performed many acts of kindness for his friends and neighbors and was devoted to his family. He was a member of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Suffolk, and an active participant of the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Norfolk. His survivors are his wife of 58 years, Elizabeth "Betty Roane" Priddy Kendrick; his daughter, Joan Kendrick Wingfield of Richmond; his son, James Causey Kendrick Jr. and his wife, Barbara, of Ashland; and his son, Newton Priddy Kendrick and his wife, Melissa, of Carmel, Calif.; sisters, Evelyn K. Wantland of Urbana, Illinois and Elizabeth K. Woolford of Aylett; and grandchildren, Douglas Spottswood Wingfield, Elizabeth Kendrick Wingfield and Madeleine Berkeley Kendrick. A memorial service will be held Saturday, December 12, at noon at the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, 7400 Hampton Boulevard, Norfolk, Va. 23505. The family will receive friends at home. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the memorial fund of the Church of the Good Shepherd.


This obituary was originally published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.