Copyright Jayne Kennedy Sweger & Sharlee Farrell, 19 July 2008
Sharlee Farrell Nowata County GenWeb Coordinator, July 19, 2008
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Copyright. All rights reserved.
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DeWitt T Kennedy Family
By Jayne Kennedy Sweger
Edited by Sharlee Farrell
DEWITT TALMAGE KENNEDY, known to family and friends as Dude, was the son of Richard Yates and Axaphia B Wink Kennedy. He was born 11 October 1893 in Coffeyville, Montgomery Co., Kansas, and died 04 October 1971 in Nowata, Nowata Co., Oklahoma.
He married AUDREY BESSIE WELLIVER, 11 March 1928 in Butler, Bates Co., Missouri, daughter of JOHN WELLIVER and MARTIIA CLUCK. She was born 30 October 1903 in Appleton City, St Clair Co, Missouri, and died 16 June 1994 at Home, Nowata, Nowata Co, Oklahoma.
DeWitt T Kennedy, 1918
Pvt Co M 14th Kansas Infantry, World War I
AUDREY AND DUDE
Dude's parents moved to Coffeyville in 1888 from Whiteside County, Illinois.
A week before Dude and Audrey were married in March of 1928, he wrote his future bride: �I have today bought a bed and set a hen.� The hen rode under the wagon seat from Coffeyville to Nowata, and was soon ensconced, with her chicks, on the Kennedy farm 1 � miles southeast of Nowata.
Audrey was always active in Loyal Neighbors Home Extension Club, and served as President of the Nowata County Council. She served on the board that created the Nowata County Historical Society and Museum. The Home Extension Room in the Museum is the result of two years of sorting memorabilia from all the Extension Clubs in the County.
One thing I forgot to include: Mother (Audrey) volunteered at the Library for many years, starting when it was located in the Depot. She also had a rotating library in her home, when all the Extension Clubs in the County had a library in a member's home for the convenience of their members and others in the community. This was before our original library was created and all those Extension books were incorporated into what is now the Nowata City-County Library.
CAROL JEANE KENNEDY, b. 07 June 1929, Nowata, Nowata Co., Oklahoma; d. 25 June 1929, Nowata, Nowata Co., Oklahoma.
Then Jayne came along in 1931. She was also born in Nowata, Nowata Co., OK.
At the time of his Fathers death in 1934, R. Y., was the Mayor of Coffeyville.
Jayne married Lloyd Sweger of Talala, where they lived for 23 years. In 1972, they moved their house to the Kennedy farm.
Jayne lived in the Nowata area for 74 years, most of it on the farm where she was born. During that time, she wrote and had published a number of non-fiction articles and photographs.
JAYNE LLOYD
Lloyd was a mechanic and worked in shops in Nowata for most of his career. The last years of his working life were spent in the strip coal mines east of Nowata. Lloyd died in 1990. After living on at the farm for 14 years, Jayne sold out and moved to Montana to be near her son, Dale.
Their daughter, Gretchen, married Terry Collins, and they reside in Tulsa.
Dale spent 20 years in the United States Air Force, retiring in Montana.
Loretta married Richard Graham in Bartlesville, where they live.
