Ruby Drake Kennedy

Mrs. Ruby Drake Kennedy, 91, widow of C. A. Kennedy and former resident of Maury County, died Thursday, December 23, 2004 in Newnan, Georgia. Funeral services will be conducted Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. at Oakes & Nichols with Brother Jim Bill McInteer officiating. Burial will be in the Wilkes Cemetery in Culleoka. The family will visit with friends Tuesday from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the funeral home. Memorials may be made to the West Seventh Street Church of Christ Building Fund, 405 West Seventh Street, Columbia, 38401. Notes of sympathy may be sent to www.oakesandnichols.com. She was born November 14, 1913 to Newton White Drake and Bertha Anderson Drake near Lynnville in Giles County, Tennessee. Her mother died when she was five and Mr. Drake later married the former Ethyl Hayes. As the daughter of a struggling tenant farmer, she knew the hard labor of "chopping and picking" cotton, watching from the fields as other children passed by on the way to school. She witnessed the death of a young sister from tetanus in the days before antibiotics. While attending Jones High School, she made her home with an aunt in the nearby town of Lynnville and later took courses at the University of Tennessee Extension in Nashville. She was married September 17, 1936 to Carlton A. Kennedy, well-known teacher, principal, attorney, judge, Tennessee State Senator and long-time elder and Bible teacher at West Seventh Street Church of Christ in Columbia. They made their home on a small farm in the Culleoka Community. After Mr. Kennedy's death in 1958, she attended business college and began a 26-year career with the Tennessee Department of Employment Security in Nashville, retiring in 1987. Mrs. Kennedy held life-membership in the Parent Teachers Association and served a number of years on the State Board of the organization. A member of the West Seventh Street Church of Christ in Columbia for a number of years, she moved her membership to the West End Church of Christ after her move to Nashville following her husband's death. She established residence in Newnan, Georgia in 2000 to be nearer family after the onset of Alzheimer's. Her final years were spent as a resident of Pointe Magnolia in Newnan. Mrs. Kennedy had a total of 11 brothers and sisters, two of whom survive; Peggy Drake Bates of Ardmore, Alabama and Harold Drake of Giles County, Tennessee. Siblings preceding her in death were Mary (Mrs. James) Hyatt, Ethel Drake, William Drake, Imogene Drake, Mildred Drake, Betty (Mrs. Jerome) Holly, Thomas Drake, Hayes Drake and Bobby Drake. Survivors in addition to her sister and brother include two sons and daughters-in-law, Dr. Jack and Patricia Kennedy of Chattanooga, Tennessee and Al and Sandra Kennedy of Newnan, Georgia; grandchildren, Cheryl Phillips of Chattanooga, Alice K. Jackson (husband Craig) of Newnan, Georgia, Dr. Karin Kennedy (husband Steve Trageser) of Chattanooga, Andy Kennedy (wife) Karen of Newnan, Georgia and Elizabeth Brownlee (husband Calvin) of Newnan, Georgia; five great-grandchildren; several nieces and nephews. Among family and friends pallbearers include Joe Roberson, Bob Vantrease and Bill Kennedy.