ANN MARIE KENNEDY

Kennedy, Ann, age 87 of Acton, MA (formerly of Brighton and Brookline), August 3, 2024. Ann (known to her family as Ann Marie) was born in Lowell, MA on January 15, 1937 to Leo J. Kennedy and Mary Agnes White Kennedy. Even through her recent health challenges, Ann was always cheerful, happy to see people, and appreciative of a visit or any small favor that was done for her. As one person at Life Care Center of Acton said, “She was one of the good ones”. After graduation from Lowell Public Schools. Ann enrolled in the Catherine Laboure School of Nursing. She then became a nun with the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent DePaul in Emmitsburg, Maryland and attended St. Joseph College where she received her Bachelors in Nursing. Later she moved to Washington DC and received her Masters in Psychiatric Health from Catholic University, and worked at Providence Hospital. She recalls walking across the grounds of the US Capitol to do home nursing for patients while in DC. Ann also worked at the Seton Institute in Baltimore, MD. Ann decided to leave the convent and returned to Boston, where she first worked at the VA Hospital in Bedford MA. Later she became a psychiatric clinician at the Baker and Phillips House at Mass General Hospital, and then administrator of the Inpatient Psychiatric Unit. A friend suggested that she would be good at teaching, and thus her next move was to teach nursing at the Baptist Hospital in Jamaica Plain while also working weekends at The Arbor Hospital. Following that, Ann was coordinator of the undergraduate psychiatric nursing program at Northeastern, where she received the Teacher of the Year award two years in a row. Ann retired from teaching at age 71. In her 70s and 80s, Ann was involved with a community of older women (Rainbow), and she and a number of her friends from that community stayed connected through the rest of her life.

Throughout her life Ann has always enjoyed music, from playing the French Horn at Lowell High School to being the organist while at the Seton Institute. Later she enjoyed having a piano in her apartments in Brookline - though her movers wished there had been an elevator when she was on the top floor!

Ann was predeceased by her parents and her brother Robert B. Kennedy. She is survived by sister-in-law Janet Wajda Kennedy of Lowell, nieces Katherine Kennedy of New York City and Eleanor Kennedy of Boston, cousins Peggy Heron Walsh of NJ, Julie Heron Cooney of IL, David Heron of Reading and Maura Heron Sharp of Acton, and many long time friends. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Ann’s name to the charity of your choice.

The family would like to express their appreciation to the staff at Life Care Center of Acton and New England Hospice for the care and compassion they provided to Ann. As a continuation of her desire to help others, and to support training and research in the medical field, Ann had registered for the Anatomical Gift Program at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

A memorial mass will be held on Saturday, September 14 at 11 AM at the Holy Family Catholic Church, 12 Square Concord MA.