Dateline: 01/26/98
Nancy Dorothea Lyne Kennedy departed this life on January 20, 1998.She was fifty-three years old. My wife of almost thirty-two years, Nancy was my friend and companion for more than thirty-four years. It was Nancy who introduced me to the concept of private education years ago. She herself was a product of Grace Church School, 10th and Broadway, New York, after which she attended the Lennox School. When it came time to educate her daughters, she carefully chose first the pre-schools, then the primary schools, and finally the secondary schools which her children would attend. Heather, our eldest child, attended St.
Peter's by the Sea Day School in Bay Shore, Long Island, New York. That fledgling school sparkled with the enthusiasm and love of a talented directress, Fran Edmiston. It laid the solid foundations for a brilliant academic career which included instruction at the Waldorf School, Garden City, New York and Kent School, Kent, Connecticut. Heather went on to attend Smith College and ultimately graduated from Harvard University.
Rebecca, our second-born, followed a similar route. She attended the Cathedral Nursery School in Garden City, New York, and spent a year at Westminster School, Simsbury,
Connecticut. She graduated from St. Andrew's School, Nassau, Bahamas, went on to Marlboro College and graduated from the University of Massachussetts, Amherst, Massachussetts.
Her sons, too, benefitted from this strong committment to private education. Leroy and Angelo both attended St. Anne's School, Nassau, Bahamas, and the R-E-S-P-E-C-T Academy, also in Nassau.
Nancy's egalitarian spirit made her want only the best for the public side of education as well. And so it was that she spent more than eight happy years on the Region Six Board of Education, Litchfield, Connecticut. It serves three tiny northwestern Connecticut towns, Warren, Morris, and Goshen. Her service culminated with several years as Chair of the Board. She positively relished the many challenges which that unpaid position offered.
Her experience, her quiet counsel, her positive yet totally sanguine approach to tough problems - these are strengths and qualities which all who knew Nancy and worked with her shall dearly miss.
For my part, I shall miss the dearest friend I could ever hope to have, my guiding light who made sure that her children had the best education possible, as well as all the love and support needed to make it a success.
God bless you, dearest Nancy. May you rest in peace.
Love,
Rob
