View Record Number 5019

View Record Number 5019 - Mrs. Audrey Kennedy

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Name:Mrs. Audrey Kennedy
DOD:18/01/2012
Address:Bornish
South Uist
Date of funeral:20/01/2012
Funeral Location:Daliburgh Church of Scotland
Presider:Church of Scotland Minister
Additional Info:Mrs. Kennedy was well-known and loved in the South Uist Community. She had suffered from a long illness when she passed away. In earlier years, she ran a shop and post office at the road-end of the township of Bornish. She was a great asset to her local community.
The following tribute was made to her in the newsletter of the Church of Scotland by Jane Harlington:
In Loving Memory of Audrey Kennedy 1943 -2012
Audrey Kennedy will be remembered for many reasons, but perhaps most of all for her desire after goodness, along with her kindness and her ability to reach out to others. She had a capacity for uniting people in friendship and in the sharing of common concerns.
My own path crossed only briefly with Audrey’s during a stay in the Western Isles Hospital in Stornoway. Here was a woman who, despite her illness, had a presence that bonded those on the ward in a spirit of camaraderie despite trials and discomfort. Testimony to this shines out from the letters and tributes that John and the family received from women in Lewis at the news of Audrey's death.
In Audrey we glimpse a life that was truly well lived; a life that involved much travel to far away places, following John's work in the Armed Forces - work that took them to places like Borneo and Aden among others and, ultimately, to Germany, where Iain was born. Twenty-seven years of army life make for a resourceful character of great inner strength.
John's work brought them to Benbecula in 1979, and thence to the township of Bornish, where Audrey ran the Shop and Post Office. She is well remembered for her willingness to go that extra mile, which took her out into the community many times.
Immediate and heartfelt sorrow was expressed at the news of her death, and she will be genuinely missed, and remembered in many different ways by those who knew her. An astute and clever whist player, she enjoyed the game enormously. She was also a respected and valued member of the team at SHARE.
Audrey was a woman of real presence, and I would seek to reassure family and friends that although death is the absence of physical presence, it need never be the absence of spiritual presence. It was a privilege to meet her husband, John, sons Iain and Allan with family: Jane and the children Ellen, Vaila and Hamish. We remember also her two brothers who live in the place of Audrey's birth in Holland. It was very moving to share in this great moment of change in all their lives, and I know they will remain in the hearts and prayers of their community in the coming months. At the funeral I shared the following reading:
“Give sorrow the space it demands, for when sorrow comes, a man is driven to the deep things of life.
Sorrow reveals, as nothing else can, the kindness and the presence of our fellowmen, and it can show us, and therefore lead us to, the comfort and the solace to be found in the compassion and presence of God."
Rest in Peace dear wife, mother, grandmother, sister and friend, for you will live on in the hearts of those who have loved you."
Section:11

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