Charles LeRay Kennedy was born on February 26, 1940, in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, to Clyde Kennedy and Ruth Della Parks Kennedy and joined his Lord and Savior on July 15, 2024, at the age of eighty-four years and four months.
LeRay attended Satterwhite School through eighth grade and then graduated from Elmore City High School in 1958. After graduation, he received his air conditioning and heating certification from Okmulgee Tech.
Anyone that knew him, knew he could not sit still. He had to be up and moving and working. LeRay was the hardest working man that you would ever meet. He worked for thirty-four years for Rural Electric Cooperative in Lindsay, Oklahoma, where he worked as not only an electrician and lineman, but most would say as head jokester. He took a year off from R.E.C. to start his own electric business using his two boys, David and Terry, but as the boys tell it, they didn’t want to work as hard as dad so he had to go back to work for R.E.C. After retiring, LeRay couldn’t sit still, so he went to work for Skip Jones and Southside Electric for a few years and then decided to work for the Elmore City Public Schools. He made a lot of friends with all of the children that he drove the school bus each and every day for. Oh, and he loved those kids! One of the things he thought was important at the school was making sure all of the busses were kept clean and safe. He would go and wash the buses every chance he had. Just ask the grandkids that were big enough to go help. He would draft the kids that stayed with he and Grandma to go and help clean them. Wouldn’t he Sarah, Dally, Derby and Seth? He thought he was just going to be part-time at the school, but he didn’t know how to do that and ended up working full-time, so he decided to go back to just farming again, but just when we thought he might slow down and actually rest, he decided to go to work for Garvin County. He took so much pride in brush hogging the county roads and making everything look nice. In 2015, he decided to retire again and stay home with mom, but guess what? Yeah, it wasn’t long until you could find him twice a day, every day, cleaning the car wash to help Alan and Clyda.
LeRay spent his life serving his Lord and Savior. He was saved and baptized at the Satterwhite Missionary Baptist Church where he was a lifelong member. He faithfully served as a Sunday School teacher and Deacon for many years. He lived his life teaching and telling his friends and family the importance of having a relationship with Jesus Christ.
He was married to his high school sweetheart, Ellen Maxine McNeill on August 29, 1959, and they have celebrated sixty-four wonderful years of marriage. Together they raised four children, twelve grandchildren, and ten great-grandchildren.
LeRay is survived by his wife, Ellen, of the home; son, David and Kim Kennedy of Elmore City, Oklahoma and his family, Charlie and Crystal Kennedy and their children, David, Charlie, and Austin, of Elmore City and Katie Kennedy of Rush Springs, Oklahoma; son, Terry Kennedy of Elmore City and his family, Hope and Brett York and daughter, Brailey, of Ada, Oklahoma, Hoak and Tayl’r Kluver and their children, Jett, Cooper, and Gus, of Pocasset, Oklahoma, Dally and Lane Hopper and their children, Kenleigh and Sage, of Elmore City, and Thomas Kennedy of Elmore City, daughter, Cendy and Steven Combes of Elmore City, and her family, Sarah Combes and fiancé Jason Quigley of Destrahan, Louisiana, and Seth and Harlee Combes of Enid, Oklahoma, daughter, Clyda and Alan Ware of Pauls Valley, and her family, Derby and Malia Whitefield, of Stillwater, Oklahoma, Kennedy and Zach Perry of Houston, Texas, Daniel and Darcie Ware and Bennett, of Moore, Oklahoma, and Rachel and Callie Ware and Sosie, of Oklahoma City. LeRay is also survived by many friends and family. Throughout his life, he made an imprint on many individuals.
He is preceded in death by his parents, Clyde and Ruth Kennedy; his brother Clyde Dale “Cotton” Kennedy; daughter-in-law, Coie Sue Kennedy; and great-granddaughter Brettley Nicole York.
Services for LeRay were held July 19, 2024, at the First Baptist Church of Elmore City, Oklahoma, under the direction of Wooster Funeral Home, with Joe Terrell and Allen Carrol officiating. If you would like to send your condolences to the family you may do so at woosterfuneralhomes.com.
