Laura Etta (Nida) Kennedy

May 7, 1903 – March 22, 2005

Laura E. Kennedy, 101, of Perry, Oklahoma was the oldest daughter of 13 children born to E. V. and Anna L. (Zeller) Nida. She was born May 7, 1903 in the family’s country home west of Orlando, Oklahoma and died Tuesday, March 22, 2005 at Green Valley Nursing Home.

Funeral services will be at 2:00 p.m. Friday, March 25, 2005 in the Brown-Dugger Funeral Home Chapel in Perry. Rev. Ed Cook will officiate. Interment will be in Grace Hill Cemetery in Perry. Services will be under the direction of Brown Dugger Funeral Home of Perry. Memorials may be made to the First United Methodist Church of Perry in care of Brown-Dugger Funeral Home.

She was a 1922 graduate of Perry High School. Laura earned her Bachelor of Science degree in elementary education from Central Oklahoma State University at Edmond.

Laura and Claude H. Kennedy were married on May 18, 1926 at the First Christian Church in Enid, Oklahoma. She and her husband spent all of their married life as residents of Oklahoma.

A school teacher for 29 years, Laura taught in Noble County rural schools eight years before accepting a position as a first grade teacher at Enid. Laura taught in the Enid Public School system for 21 years before retiring. After her retirement, Laura moved from Enid to Perry in 1969.

Laura was a member of the Enid Education Association and Classroom Teachers, Noble County Retired Teachers Association, the National Retired. Teachers Association, the Oklahoma Education Association and the National Education Association. She held several offices in the Kappa Kappa Iota (Education Sorority), served as secretary of the American Childhood Association and was a member of the American Association of University Women.

She was converted and baptized and joined the Christian Church in Perry at age 17. She later joined the Methodist Church and was a member for the remainder of her life.

Laura was a member of the First United Methodist Church in Perry, the Nautile Sunday School Class and the Ruth and Priscilla Circles of the United Methodist Women. Laura always attended Sunday School and church and was active in church activities until she became ill. She taught Sunday School classes for all ages and for many years taught adult Bible classes.

Laura enjoyed reading. She read her Bible daily and prayed daily for family members, friends and others. She enjoyed flowers and had a green thumb. Her yard and flowers were always prettier than anyone else’s.

She was appreciated for the many accomplishments she achieved in her life and for the accomplishments she made to her family, community and country.

Survivors are one daughter, Claudine (Kennedy) Willis, of Norman, Oklahoma; two grandchildren, Ronald W. Willis and his wife, Stephanie, of Enid, Oklahoma; and Kathryn Ann Cochran and her husband, John, of College Station, Texas; eight great-grandchildren, Kristin Lind and her husband, Josh, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Wade Willis, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Julie Ann Willis, of Stillwater, Oklahoma Allison Cochran, of Dallas, Texas, Kent Cochran, of College Station, Texas, Carter Cochran, of College Station, Texas, Kerri Dawn Brackin, of New York City, and Alexander Kroll of Enid, Oklahoma; two sisters, Lucille Updike, of Jenks, Oklahoma and Katherine Klinglesmith, of Perry, Oklahoma; one brother, John D. Nida and his wife, Vivian, of Perry, Oklahoma; a host of nieces and nephews who she loved dearly and many friends.

Laura was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, Claude H. Kennedy, in 1955; an infant daughter, one granddaughter, Karen Dawn Brackin, in 1995; and nine brothers and sisters.