John C Kennedy

Funeral service for John Clifford Kennedy, 87, of Lawton will be held at 10:00 a.m., Tuesday, December 5, 2017 at Lawton Ritter Gray Funeral Home Chapel with Willie Irvin officiating. 

Burial will be at Flower Mound Cemetery.

Mr. Kennedy passed away on Thursdy, November 30, 2017 in Lawton. 

There will be a special viewing and visitation for family and friends on Monday, December 4, 2017 from 6:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. at the funeral home.  

John C. Kennedy was born on November 6, 1930 on his Grandmother's farm located between Meers and Saddle Mountain, OK to Clifford B. and Nora (Hall) Kennedy. He attended Victory Grade School through 8th grade, later attended Cache Schools. After the family moved, he graduated from Lawton High School and drove the school bus his junior and senior years. He then continued working as a custodian and bus driver. He was involved in FFA at both Cache and Lawton, showing Berkshire pigs. While employed at Lawton Public Schools, he and a fellow employee used the school truck to haul rock from his grandmother's place to build a retaining wall around Lincoln Elementary School. He married Mildred Allison on March 14, 1951. He was driving a delivery truck for Wertz Fruit Company and had just started working with his uncle as a carpenter when on February 14, 1952, he was drafted into the United States Army. After receiving his basic training at Fort Ord, California, he was sent to a machinist school at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland. Then he was sent on tour to Korea for a year. Two days after he left for Korea, their only child, Alton, was born. John was discharged at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He then owned and operated a Sinclair Service Station and later became a full time truck driver, owning and operating John Kennedy Produce for 17 years. He also drove for several other companies including J.R. Stewart, Malone Oil Company, Glenn Oil Company, Humpty Dumpty, Santa Fe Railroad, Republic Gypsum & Koch Trucking, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was very involved in his two grandsons, Christopher and Derick's school and activities. He started taking them hiking in the Wild Life Refuge where he grew up before Derick was even a year old. He was always there to support great grandson, John W., in school archery, baseball, and soccer games. He spent several Saturdays, rain or shine, down on the southwest corner of the Lawton Soccer field. Then there were T-Ball games for great granddaughters, Caitlyn and Micaela. He loved spending time with his great grandson, Wyatt. John loved collecting old things and was a former member of Poor Boys and current member of Cache Creek Tractor Club and the American Legion. 

He was preceded in death by his parents, Clifford B. and Nora (Hill) Kennedy; his step fathers, Elton Tugmon & James Rhoenkohl; his grandparents, Tom and Jenny Kennedy Willis, and John and Mary Hall; one brother, Larry Tugmon; and several uncles, aunts, and cousins. 

He is survived by his wife, Mildred of 66 years; his son, Alton; two grandsons and their spouses,  Christopher and Jessica Kennedy, and Derick and April Kennedy; four great grandchildren, John W. Kennedy, Micaela Wermy, Caitlyn Kennedy, and Wyatt Kennedy; two brothers, Theodore Kennedy, and Leon Tugmon; four aunts, Cleo Wheeler, Barbara Mannen, Fern Hall, and Wilma Hall; and numerous nieces, nephews, close relatives, and friends.   

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