Funeral services for Ernest Hicks Kennedy, 74, are
complete. Kennedy died Wednesday morning at the Baylor Medical School’s hospital here of complications related to COVID and lymphoma.
Kennedy was born Feb. 16, 1946, in St. Patrick Hospital, the youngest son of the late C.L. and Pauline
Kennedy, RN. He matriculated in the then-Lake Charles School System at Fourth Ward Elementary, Central Junior High and Lake Charles High School.
He graduated from Lake Charles High in 1964 where he had been a two-year letterman on the
Wildcat Football teams and was inducted in the Lake Charles Club, a membership of varsity lettermen.
Following graduation, Kennedy went on active duty with the U.S. Navy, where he had enlisted in the Reserves on his 18th birthday. He
served two years of active duty and continued in the Naval Reserve after his honorable discharge.
He had been a deputy sheriff with the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Department under the late Sheriff Henry A. “Ham” Reid. As a deputy, he was a
member of the sheriff’s department’s Shooting Team, both as a marksman and in quick-draw competition.
He continued to be an avid outdoorsman and conservationist all his life. One of the two 10.8 lb. Speckled (Spotted Sea Trout) trout he
caught is still on display at the Hackberry Hilton Hunting Club on Black Lake.
Kennedy enrolled at the-then University of Southwestern Louisiana under the auspices of the GI Bill. Prior to graduation, He went to work with South Central
Bell (SCB), first as a lineman.
He progressed through several positions with SCB until he was promoted to regional manager here. He retired from SCB as regional manager.
Upon retirement, he and his wife renovated a home on
Spring Bayou in Marksville, La.
He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Helen Griffin Kennedy of Marksville; a special daughter, Aliana Whitney-Zepeda and her children, Madeline and Aidan Zepeda; a nephew, Chad Kennedy of Dallas and his
children, Jared, Jonah and Carsyn Kennedy, and a niece, April Kennedy of Lake Charles. Also, a sister-in-law, Carla Griffin, also of Marksville.
He was predeceased by his parents and one brother, Charles Kennedy. The family wishes to thank
Chad Kennedy and Richard Louviere for their assistances.