Annie K Thompson

Annie Mae Kennedy was the daughter of Paul Kennedy and Nellie Mae Sullivan. She was born on 8 March 1923 in Palestine, Texas, where her father worked on the railroad. The family moved with the railroad to Houston when she was about three years old. Her childhood was shaped by the Great Depression and the hard times of those years contributed to the development of those characteristics for which she was known all her life: integrity, self-reliance, pragmatism, and common sense.

Her innate intelligence was recognized at an early age. Without preamble, the principal pulled her aside at the end of the fourth grade, gave her a proficiency test, and told her she was immediately promoted to the sixth grade. Having graduated from high school at barely the age of 17, she enrolled as a freshman at the University of Houston. But love soon intervened and she opted to marry a few months later.

Annie married William Robert Geary on 14 December 1940 in Houston. She devoted the following years to bearing and raising three children: William, Annie, and Elizabeth. She was an exceptional mother. She taught us the basics: love of God, family, and country. She instilled a strong interest in learning and achieving. She communicated encouragement and a deep conviction that self-discipline and self-control are the essential prerequisites of learning and living.

When the children were in school, Annie returned to school herself. She acquired an Associate Degree in business and returned to the workforce initially as an accountant. She joined the railroad as a billing clerk and ended her career as assistant to a railroad executive. Her mastery of shorthand was such that she recorded verbatim transcriptions of testimony being given at hearings conducted by the railroad. She succeeded at every endeavor she undertook.

Annie and William Geary divorced in 1959. For 23 years, she was a strong, independent woman working full time and educating her three children. She became active in the National Association of Railway Business Women and was instrumental in lobbying Congress to bring equality to women in Railroad Retirement policies. On 2 October 1982, she married Norman Howard Thompson in Houston. Both retired from the Union Pacific Railroad and moved to Fredericksburg, Texas, where she crafted her love for painting. She loved the Texas Hill Country and enjoyed 20 years studying with renowned artists living in the area and producing dozens of beautiful landscapes of the Hill Country, especially of the Texas bluebonnets.

As her health declined, she moved closer to family in Plano and Frisco, Texas, where she spent her remaining years near those she loved. She was the mother of three, grandmother of five, and great-grandmother of eleven children. She passed from this world to her heavenly reward on 2 February 2016.

In summary, Annie was a remarkable woman and mother.

A memorial mass will be held at 11:00am on Tuesday, February 9, 2016 at Our Lady of Angels Catholic Church in Allen, Texas with a reception to follow.

ANCESTRY

ANNIE MAE KENNEDY
1923-2016


(ggf) Phlegmon Kennedy
(1834-1891)

(gf) John Kennedy
(1864-1937

(ggm) Lydia Sawyer
(1840-1908)

Father: Paul Kennedy
(1897-1974)

(ggf) Alexander Strain
(1842-1920)

(gm) Luella Freeland
(1868-1924)

(ggm) Eliza Hood
(1851-1917)

---------------------------------------------------------

(ggf) James Sullivan

(gf) Patrick Sullivan
(1858-1934)

(ggm) Catherine Sheehan

Mother: Nellie Mae Sullivan
(1898-1979)

(ggf) Michael Whelan
(1819-1900)

(gm) Margaret Whelan
(1861-1931)

(ggm) Margaret Murphy