Kennedy

On April 19, 2025, Eileen Teresa (née Whitaker) Kennedy passed into the Lord's embrace. Grandmother died peacefully at her home In Ocean City, New Jersey where she had welcomed generations of children during her years of oil painting and kind, loving grandmothering.

She was predeceased by her husband John P. Kennedy, her children Leo and Edward and her granddaughter Christin. She is survived by children Paul (Pam), Christin (David) Pryor, Jerome (Rosemary), Peter (Ellen), John (Suzie), Ann (Dominic) Fulco, Joseph (Shannon), Thomas (Lydia), Robert, Martin (Nancy), and Nicholas (Claire).

She was the daughter of Winnifred and Benjamin Whitaker, and is also survived by her sister, Sis Everly, and predeceased by siblings Eugene Whitaker, Joseph Whitaker, Mary Ryan, Ann Byers, and Thomas Whitaker.

Eileen was born October 23, 1925, in Philadelphia. She was baptized and received her first Holy Communion at Saint John the Baptist Church on Rector Street in Manayunk. She attended grade school and high school there as well. In 1948 she married John Paul Kennedy and they moved to their first house together on Seville Street. She was a member of Saint Damien Parish and Saint Francis Cabrini Church in Ocean City, New Jersey.

Although each of us has a unique memory of our mother and grandmother, we will forever remember the sheer scale of her life from family dinners for her thirteen children to her chocolate drawer for her 43 grandchildren and 28 great-grandchildren.

Her life was a prayer. She often invoked the gospel exclamation of "I believe, help Thou my unbelief." Through her prayers and her abiding trust in redemption, Eileen made her faith apparent. She believed deeply in the physical presence of God and believed we are a people who live in hope. She left to us a passage from T.S. Eliot's The Elder Statesman about love that transcends common understanding. She wanted us to know that this passage came from her:

"There's no vocabulary For love within a family, love that's lived in But not looked at, love within the light of which All else is seen, the love within which All other love finds speech. This love is silent."

A funeral mass will be offered on April 28, 2025, at 10:30 a.m. at Saint John the Baptist. The mass will be preceded by a visitation starting at 9:00 a.m. Internment will follow at Calvary Cemetery, West Conshocken, Pa.

Any donations should be made to The friends of Saint John the Baptist Church, 146 Rector St., Phila., Pa. 19127.

Well done, good and faithful servant. Matthew 25:23