Dana Daisy Kennedy

1935 - 2023

AVERILL PARK - Dana Daisy Kennedy, 88, a dancer with the Joffrey Ballet, Broadway and Chicago musicals, and wife of novelist William Kennedy, died on Friday, September 29, 2023, surrounded by family after battling Alzheimer's disease for seven years.
Born on September 23, 1935, in Ponce, P.R., she began dancing at 11, rose spectacularly through the Manhattan dance world, and became celebrated as a dancer, actress, model, and cultural star in Puerto Rico. Her parents were Fermin Segarra and Celia Irizzary.
She attended New York's High School of Performing Arts. Robert Joffrey, her ballet teacher, chose her for his first ballet company, so Dana danced at Jacob's Pillow as a high school undergraduate. While in the Joffrey company, she took the stage name of Dana Sosa.
At 18 she auditioned for Rogers and Hammerstein's "Me & Juliet" - 300 aspirants for two dance roles. Richard Rodgers himself chose Dana as one of the two. The musical premiered in 1953, ran a year, and Dana went with it on the road. She danced with Olson & Johnson's "Pardon My Antenna" in Chicago, with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet in Detroit, and did Summer Stock in Highland Park, Chicago. She later danced in "Pajama Game" on Broadway replacing Shirley MacLaine, then danced and sang in "News Faces of 1956." When that show closed in 1956, she went to Puerto Rico to see her family and at a party for her in December, she met William Kennedy, a San Juan newspaper editor. They married a month later. The Miami Herald hired him as a reporter and less than a year later they left Miami for San Juan. He pursued novel writing and Dana resumed her theatrical career - as an actor, singer, model, and dancer on two weekly TV shows and a third that was aired in America. She had starring roles in Little Theater musicals, "Auntie Mame," "Fiorello," and "Bye Bye Birdie" - in the latter co-starring with the young Raul Julia, later a Broadway and film star. Dana became such a cultural icon that William was sometimes called Mr. Sosa.
The Kennedys had two daughters born in Puerto Rico, Dana and Kathy. William was hired as managing editor of a new daily newspaper, The San Juan Star. In 1963, when a crisis in his family arose, they moved to Albany. William reported part-time for the Albany Times Union where he had previously worked. In 1970, the family expanded with the birth of Brendan.
To enhance family income Dana taught ballet in their Averill Park home and throughout the Averill Park School District. For 12 years her students danced with the New York City Ballet in Saratoga Springs, and she choreographed musicals for Averill Park High School.
In 1973, Dana opened Grand Rags in a West Sand Lake mall, a women's sportswear boutique, aided by her brother William Segarra, an apparel manufacturer. She divided the storefront space with her dance school. The boutique's success prompted Dana to open another Grand Rags (again sharing space with dance) at Tamarac Plaza in Cropseyville. Her daughter Kathy helped her in teaching, notably during the disco craze when, by popular request, Dana (and Kathy) gave lessons. To stay abreast of the craze mother and daughter took dance lessons in Manhattan, coincidentally choosing Deney Terrio, one of John Travolta's dance coaches in "Saturday Night Fever" which started the craze. A 1980 fire destroyed several stores in the mall, including Grand Rags and the dance studio. Dana never re-opened.
William began publishing novels in 1968. In 1983, he published "Ironweed," his fourth, earning him a lavish MacArthur Foundation grant, several literary prizes and movie contracts, and the insolvency that Dana had kept at bay, was ended.
She was a magnificent cook and gracious host who illuminated countless dinner parties at the Kennedys' rambling 19th-century Averill Park farmhouse. Even as Alzheimer's fogged her memory, Dana moved with balletic grace and exuded a timeless beauty. The "Latin from Manhattan" lived a full, rich and magnificent life.
She is survived by her husband of 66 years, William Kennedy; and her three children, Dana Kennedy Nelson (the late Earl Nelson Jr.), Katherine Kennedy Caruso (Phillip Caruso), and Brendan Kennedy (Tracy Kennedy); her grandchildren, Casey Rafferty (Elizabeth), Shannon Rafferty, Sarah and Vincent Caruso, and Annabella, Scarlett and Evelyn Kennedy; her great-grandchildren, Natalie, Calvin and Audrey Rafferty; her siblings, Ana Julia Segarra Foster, and Oliva Segarra; many nieces and nephews; and her cousin, Emma Sbarra. She was predeceased by her siblings, William Segarra, Nelson Sosa, Manolo Segarra, Carlos Segarra, Estela Segarra Negron, Bienvenida Segarra Hagarty, and Gumita Cordero.
The Kennedys wish to thank Dana's loyal health aides for years of loving care: Mary Ann Conroy, Colleen McGovern, Leslie Milhouse, Cindy Novak, Hina Chaudhry, Stephanie Lamont, Shanice Bennett, Kim Ashley, and Dacia Brown; also, thanks to the Community Hospice for extraordinary attention to Dana's final months.
Relatives and friends are invited to visit with Dana's family on Tuesday, October 3, from 4 to 7 p.m. in the McVeigh Funeral Home, 208 North Allen St., Albany. A time to reflect on her life and legacy will be held at 6:30 p.m. Please only enter the funeral home from the rear parking lot entrance. She will be buried in St. Agnes Cemetery, Menands.
In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the Alzheimer's Association.
To leave the Kennedy family a message on their guestbook, obtain directions, or view other helpful services, please visit www.mcveighfuneralhome.com.