Posted by Newspaper Transcriber on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 at 12:40:38 :

JOHN (ELMER) KENNEDY

Daly City Fire Chief John (Elmer) Kennedy was buried yesterday morning at Holy Cross Cemetery, after funeral services from W.C. Lasswell & Co. and a requiem Mass at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church. He was 59.

Chief Kennedy was the husband of Maxine L. Kennedy and the father of John J., Jane L. and Diane D. Kennedy. He was the brother of Melvin, Lawrence and James Kennedy, Mrs. Anna Lagomarsino, Mrs. Florence Gfroerer, Mrs. Josephine Bird and the late Raymond and Norman Kennedy. He was the grandfather of Gregory J. Kennedy.

A native of California, Chief Kennedy was a member of the Daly City Fire Department; the Veteran Firemen’s Assn. of Daly City; Peninsula Fire Chiefs Assn; California Fire Chiefs Assn; International Fire Chiefs, Inc; California State Firemen’s Assn., Inc.; South San Francisco Lodge #2901 BPOE; Daly City Chamber of Commerce; Colma-Vista Grand Aerie #1848 FOE, and the Green Hills Country Club.

The Record & Westlake Times, Page 4, Wednesday, January 13 1965
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Chief Kennedy Succumbs
Daly City Fire Chief Elmer Kennedy – a man who as much as grew up with the Daly City Fire Department – was buried yesterday by a legion of friends and associates.

Kennedy died early Saturday morning, a victim of a fatal heart attack. He was 59.

Only a week before, he had returned home from Children’s Hospital in San Francisco where he had been recovering from a series of attacks suffered a month and a half ago.

Fire Department reports show firemen were called to Kennedy’s home at 301 Vista Grande Ave. at 2:35 a.m. by Kennedy’s wife Maxine. Oxygen and a heart massage failed to revive the white-haired chief.

Kennedy’s physician, Dr. Leo van der Reis, had said recently that the chief had “a lot of trouble with his heart in the past.”

Kennedy had been a “native” of Daly City in the literal sense of the word.

Born on Mission St. in this city, the chief practically grew up in the city’s fire houses.

His father, Jack Kennedy, was the original fire chief of the city’s primitive volunteer fire department. As a teenager, Kennedy spent his spare hours in the fire house.

At the age of 22, Kennedy officially entered the ranks of the city’s fire fighters.

Kennedy worked hard as a fireman so that, in 1951, when Daly City organized a full time fire department, Elmer Kennedy was the man chosen to be its first fire chief.

He was a past president of the Peninsula Fire Chiefs Association, the San Mateo Fire Chiefs Association, the Daly City Employees Association and the Daly City Veteran Firemen’s Association.

In 1957, the chief was presented with the distinguished citizen’s award from the Daly City-Colma Chamber of Commerce for his leadership in “Operation Santa Clause”, an annual drive to aid needy families at Christmas.

Kennedy, along with chamber manager Pete Markovich, initiated the drive which has helped hundreds of needy families each Christmas for 14 years.

This year, because of his prolonged illness, Kennedy was forced to the sidelines while his fire department aides carried out his work in the drive.

The chief was also active in aiding families left homeless by fires.

Chief Kennedy was a member of the International Fire Chiefs Association, California State Firemen’s Association, Daly City-Colma Chamber of Commerce and the Fraternal Order of Eagles. He had also served as president of the fire department’s Widows and Orphans Association.

Mr. Kennedy was an active leader in the recent fund drive for Mary’s Help Hospital.

He is survived by his wife, Maxine, two daughters, Jane and Diane, and a son John.

Funeral services were held yesterday morning at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Daly City. Interment was in Holy Cross Cemetery.

The Record & Westlake Times, Front Page, Wednesday, January 13 1965

From CADI: KENNEDY JOHN E 06/05/1905 LORENZ M CALIFORNIA SAN MATEO 01/09/1965 567-40-9918 59 yrs