Obituary of Grace Mae Kennedy

KENNEDY - Grace

Grace May Kennedy was born January 27, 1918, in Kilwinning, Saskatchewan, to Flora and Oscar Dicus. She was the second oldest of nine children. Grace attended Evergreen School and Leask School. After leaving school, she moved to B.C. and worked in a textile factory during the war. She returned to Saskatchewan after WWll and managed the Coffee Cup Café in Canwood with her siblings, Norma and Leonard. Grace was an avid dancer and met her first love, a saxophonist named Herman Kennedy at a community dance. She and Herman were married on November 4, 1946, in Prince Albert. In 1950, they moved to their homestead north of Leask, with their daughter Sharon. At the farm, four more children were born, Norris, Beverly, Garth, and Marlon. A dear foster son, Dale, made the family complete. She worked side-by-side on the farm with Herman until his health began to fail. In 1972, they left the farm and moved to the town of Leask. Grace worked at Williams Store from 1968, until it closed in 1975. After Herman passed, she continued to live in Leask, where she took part in community activities, sewed, knit, gardened, and spent precious time with her grandchildren.

Grace traveled often with her family, going camping and fishing, and visiting her siblings and extended family on Vancouver Island. In the late ’80s, she met her second love, WWll veteran Bill Diehl, through their Legion ties. Together, they adventured to Florida and through paradise on cruises, danced, golfed, curled, and fished. Grace was thrilled to welcome Bill’s children, Rita, Doris, Real, Marilyn, Mark, and Terry into her family as well. Grace and Bill lived their retired life to the fullest, until Bill’s passing in 2004.

Grace continued to enjoy life with her family at her own home in Leask until she moved to the Mihilewicz home in Shellbrook in 2018…at 100 years old. She spent her final years at the Shellbrook Parkland Integrated Long-Term Care. Grace was known throughout the community as being warm, caring, and very sociable. She always extended a helping hand in any fashion, and always loved a good visit, anytime, anywhere! Above everything, Grace was most proud to be a Canadian, and she served as a loyal member of the Royal Canadian Legion for decades, in memory of everyone who served her country, until the day she passed. Grace was a source of everlasting knowledge and memories; she often recounted to her family various memories during countless historical world events, and innumerable treasured moments throughout her outstanding life. She will forever be known, not just as a Great Grandma, but as Grandma Great. Her spirit, tenacity, and fierceness will live on through her family, as we are so blessed to have listened to over a century’s worth of stories, all experienced in a single, stunning lifetime.

Grace is survived by her children, Sharon, Norris, Beverly, Marlon (Brenda), and foster son, Dale (Brenda); her sister-in-law, Muriel; her 8 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren; special members of Bill’s family; and her numerous nieces, nephews, and friends.

 Grace was predeceased by her parents, Flora and Oscar; her husband, Herman; her son, Garth; her grandson, Herman; her brothers and sisters Manuel (Blanch, Irene), Harvey, Leonard (Pearl), Norma (Glen, Sam), Russel “Bud” (Flo), Owen, Enza (Maurice), and Willard (Noreen); her son-in-law, Bill; her daughter-in-law, Beverley; and her partner, Bill Diehl.

A Celebration of Grace’s Life occurred at one of her favorite places, the Leask Legion Hall, on November 4, 2023. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Leask Legion, or to the Parkland Integrated Health Centre.

Family and friends wishing to send online condolences are welcome to visit www.beaulacfuneralhome.com Arrangements have been entrusted to the care of Beau “Lac” Funeral Home & Crematorium, Shellbrook, SK. 306-747-2828.