William Patrick Kennedy

With great sadness we announce the death of our father, Bill Kennedy, age 81. Born on November 20th, 1942, he passed on August 15th, 2024 in El Dorado Hills. Born in Brooklyn New York and raised on Long Island (Bellerose Terrace) he was the 2nd oldest of 6 siblings. A lifelong Elvis and 50's genre music super fan, he enjoyed telling the stories of taking the subway to see the Alan Freed shows in New York as a young man. He knew the words to the songs every time we put on the Elvis or Buddy Holly stations, all of them! Music is magic.

He met Mom (Susan Ellen Kennedy) as a 21 year old in Manhattan and they were married for 54 years at the time of her passing in 2019, and honestly, things were never the same for Dad after she died (or really after we lost our sister Susie in 2016). Despite the loss of these two loved ones, he carried on and still enjoyed his golf, his Triumph Spitfire (coffee and cars, car shows), bocce, time with his family and his dog, Petey. He had a quick wit and always enjoyed what he would call some Tom Foolery.

He moved the family from New York to California for what was supposed to be at first, temporary, but that turned into a permanent situation and the family has been in CA since the early 70’s. He dedicated his career in management and sales to Bay Alarm Company where he stayed for 35+ years and retired from. He raised us as A’s, Raiders and Warriors fans (though you could never shake the die hard Yankee fan in him) and we grew up going to games any chance we could. He always had a boat and loved to fish and take us tubing, water skiing or just exploring new waterways in the SF Bay, the Delta or Clearlake, Berryessa, etc. The cabin in Arnold and their home at Tahoe Donner holds so many memories of card games, board games, spoons, skiing, snowmen and saucers. He was a history buff and graduated from St John’s University with his degree in history and theology. He knew his World War I and II trivia, and other random facts (many true, while others were comically made up)!

He and Mom enjoyed travel to tropical islands, cruises, Mexico, Italy and Ireland and when asked recently if there were any other places he wanted to go, he thought for a bit and answered, “Heaven.” We hope he felt that during his life he had everything he wanted and that near the end he had everything he needed. We think he did. He will be missed and there will be a void at the holiday dinners, who will say grace now? We recorded him saying that grace at many of our holiday dinners, and now they’ll hold even more special meaning. He loved sunsets and moonrises and one of the photos we included here was one of the last he ever took, found on his phone, of his beloved poodle, Petey, against the backdrop of the yard he designed, in the home he loved and the beautiful moon rising. Rest well Daddio ❤️

Poppy, as his grandkids called him, will be missed by his daughter Cathy, his son's and their wives, Bill Jr. (Mandy), Chris (Mimi) and his grand kiddles Tim, Samantha, Sean, Rhys, Kylen, Connor, and Dylan. Bill was predeceased by his daughter Susie in 2016 and his wife of 54 years, Susan, in 2019.