Helen Marie Kennedy passed away in McMinnville, Oregon, Oct. 21, 2024, at the age of 92. Born Jan. 14, 1932, in Farmington, Missouri, she was the daughter of Leo and Myrrine Mueller. She met the love of her life, William (Bill) Kennedy, at the city pool when she was 14 years old; they married four years later. In 1956, they moved from Missouri to California, first to the Los Angeles area, then to the central valley town of Visalia, where they became active in community and political affairs.
Helen won election to the Visalia School Board in 1975. At the same time, she advanced from a part-time postal clerk to postmaster at nearby Ivanhoe. As her postal career took off, Helen and Bill left Visalia. She became postmaster at Cottage Grove, Oregon, then at Sun City, Arizona, and held acting positions at sectional postal centers in Tucson, Flagstaff, and Farmington, New Mexico.
She retired in 1992 and went with Bill to Portola, California, where they built their dream home and became civic leaders. Both served as members of the city council, and Helen founded the Williams House Museum. In 2011, they moved to McMinnville, Oregon, to be closer to their daughter. Her beloved Bill died in 2018. Though this was a grievous loss, Helen remained physically active and intellectually curious to the very end, taking daily walks, reading voraciously, organizing a landscape quilting group, and much, much more, including election canvassing a few weeks before her death.
Helen was small in stature but mighty in will and character. She is survived by her daughter, Glenda Carter, who lives in McMinnville; son, Dane Kennedy (Fairfax, VA); three granddaughters, Megan Schmidt (Aumsville, OR), Jennifer Carter (Vancouver, WA), Alene Kennedy-Hendricks (Silver Spring, MD); and six grandchildren, Hannah Schmidt, Ronin, Beatriz, and Freya Borden; and Hazel and Caleb Hendricks.
