Lipika Mohanty

Mohanty, Lipika

Lipika Mohanty died in the evening of September 20, 2021 at her home and that of her husband: Kendall Kearns, in Fayetteville, GA.

Lipika was the daughter of Dr. Rama and Mrs. Anasuya Mohanty. Dr. and Mrs. Mohanty, Lipika and her brother, Bijoy, were originally from Orissa, India. Dr. Mohanty was recruited to the United States to get his PhD and to teach nuclear physics. He taught at Berkeley, NYU and lastly at LSU. The family then lived for a number of years in Baton Rouge, La.

Kendall is the son of Dot and Lyles Kearns -- Lyles having died in 2016. Jeffri and Tommy Adkins of Charlottesville, VA and Leigh and John Owens of Chapel Hill, NC are Kendall's sisters and brothers-in-law. They have seven children and five grand children to call Kendall "uncle." Dot's sister, Faye Kendall Wright, also has a large family of "grands" who also can call Kendall "uncle."

Kendall and Lipika met in 1990, when both became employees of Delta Airlines - Kendall as a pilot, having just completed a tour in the U.S. Air Force, and Lipika, as an airline stewardess. They originally lived in and flew out of New York City, but later moved to Fayetteville, GA to fly then from the Atlanta airport. They married on May 1, 2010 in the garden of a retired Episcopal priest whom they met while out walking with their beloved Maltese dog, Madison, and the priest's dog.

Lipika seemed healthy and energetic, but went to the doctor because her eyes became jaundiced. The doctor told Kendall that day, that that almost always was an indication that cancer was somewhere in the body. Indeed it was. Nothing seemed to halt its spread. They went numerous times to Emory, Pittsburg, Pa., the Mayo Clinic and elsewhere for explorations and treatments -- and Lipika worked through rounds and rounds of hard chemotherapy -- but to no avail. The cancer spread into the liver and lungs and grew rapidly.

Kendall's sister, Jeffri, spent the last two weeks of Lipika's life with her and Kendall. Jeffri was a nurse by first profession and in recent years worked with Hospice in Charlottesville, VA-- a great comfort for her to be there in those last days.

Lipika and Kendall's home was recently filled with neighbors and people who came from many places to honor the couple and to attend the traditional Hindu cremation ceremony. Jeffri's husband, Tommy and Leigh Kearns Owens' husband, John, and neighbors kept food available for all guests during the days following Lipika's passage.

While sadness was so poignant, love and human warmth predominated throughout the very large and diverse gathering of family, friends, work colleagues and neighbors. A memorable time in many lives.