Josephine Kennedy

On February 19, 1930, in Kennedy-Lamar County, Alabama, a fifth child was born to the union of the late Mr. Lanon Welch and Mrs. Hassia Cornelia Shaw Weir whom they named Josephine Emerline. Each given name had an ancestral significance. She departed this life on Tuesday, February 22, 2022. Services will be Wednesday, March 2, 2022 at 12:00 p.m. with Rev. Christopher Wriley officiating. Visitation will be Tuesday, March 1, 2022 from 1:00 - 5:00 p.m. at the funeral home. The body will lie in state two hours prior to the service at the funeral home. Burial will follow the service at Fayette Memorial Gardens. She confessed hope in Christ and joined the New Grove Missionary Baptist Church at the age of seven years under the pastorate of the late Rev. R. J. Moore, the late Rev. J. H. Thompson, Evangelist. She was a graduate of Kennedy Elementary, Lamar County Training Schools, and Alabama State Teachers College, Montgomery, Alabama. On January 12, 1955, she married Mr. Howard Kennedy and moved her membership to the First Baptist Church, Fayette, Alabama. The late J. H. Thompson was then her Pastor. To this union, was born one stillborn son, Howard LaNon Kennedy. Some of her religious activities: student and instructor in Youth Camp; Officers of youth church organizations; Sunday School Secretary, teacher, superintendent and assistant; choir member; President of Missionary Society; Bible teacher of Circle No. 2; church announcer; initiator of a District Youth Conference; fieldworker, instructor and secretary of the Canaan-Pickensville District Congress of Christian Education; field-worker, Vice-President and President of the District Women’s Convention; President, field-worker, historian, lecturer, finance committee member, youth coordinator of the Northwest State Convention; Coordinator, Assistant of Finance for the Alabama State Women’s Convention and it’s Auxiliary; 2nd and 1st Vice-President and President of the Women’s Auxiliary of Northwest District State Convention. She was a retired schoolteacher and principal, having served in many educational capacities on the local and state levels. She was a member of Ervin and McConnell Order of Eastern Stars No. 323 and other civic and political organizations. She is preceded in death by her parents, Mr. Lanon Welch and Mrs. Hassia Cornelia Shaw Weir; a son, Howard LaNon Kennedy; siblings: Annie Verlener Weir Nalls, Elzie Lee Weir, Albert Floyd Weir, Elbert Roy Weir, and Eloise Weir Cooper. Sis. Josephine is survived by her sister Dr. Cornelia Weir Hoggs, West Point, GA and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.