Michael “Mike” Lee Kennedy, 82, earned his heavenly wings in the wee hours of June 6, 2025. He died peacefully at home in his beloved Indiana, wrapped in the warm embrace of the family he built. While Mike did not live his entire life in Indiana, it was the home he yearned for, the state where he was born, raised, and married. He was the second son of Bud and Dorothy (nee Warner) Kennedy, arriving in the heat of the summer on August 27, 1942. He grew up in Moores Hill, where he ran wild with his older brother Paul, hound dogs nipping at their heels, and dreamed of flying the airplanes that streaked across the hazy Hoosier sky.
In the spring of 1960, a friend of Mike’s set him up with a prom date. Her name was Sophia Kay Pettit. Although he didn’t ask her out again until the fall of the next school year, he knew the petite girl he danced with that spring would be his whole future. She became his wife only two years later, married at St. John’s Lutheran Church. Prior to that, Mike joined the Air Force, a career choice that took Mike and Kay to Tennessee, where—in November of 1964—they welcomed their first daughter, Sherrie Kay Kennedy. In early 1965, Mike was honorably discharged and began working at Lockheed Aircraft in Georgia, where his second daughter, Michelle Lynn Kennedy, was born. By 1970, Mike and Kay found their way back to the Hoosier state and welcomed their only son, Joseph Paul Kennedy.
Over the next thirty years Mike provided for his family of five by working the third and second shift as a machinist mechanic at Kroger. When he retired at 57, he spent the next 25 years pouring all his love and energy into his marriage, four grandchildren, garden, and the classic cars he procured along the way.
He was known for his quirky sense of humor, effortless storytelling, love for God, and hardworking nature. Mike was the sort of man who was devoted in every conceivable way—to his faith, his wife, his children, and any and every job he held. That devotion and care he gave to all he knew was evident until the very end. Mike was not just a father to his children, but a second dad to his grandchildren, his nieces, and nephews, and sons and daughters-in-law. Though he loved his other jobs and especially his time in the Air Force, he loved the role of fatherhood most of all.
Mike made an indelible mark upon all who knew him, and he will be greatly missed by Kay, his wife of 63 years; Sherrie (Lee), Michelle (Kevin), Joseph (Hayley), his children; Taryn (Ian), Morgan (Brad), Max and Seamus, his grandchildren; and Philip, his great grandson. Mike is also survived by a host of nieces, nephews, in-laws, and friends. He joins in heaven his dear older brother, Paul, and his parents, Dorothy and Bud.
Services for Mike will be held on Wednesday, June 11, at Amazing Grace Lutheran Church in Harrison, OH. The visitation will begin at 10:00 a.m. followed by a service at 11:00 a.m. The burial will be held at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Dewberry, IN. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to Amazing Grace Lutheran Church. Family and friends are encouraged to leave condolences at www.andres-wuestefeldfh.com.