Elaine (Alden) Kennedy

Elaine Priscilla (Alden) Kennedy, Age 71, long time resident of Lancaster, Massachusetts, passed away December 31st, 2016 at the Life Care Center Nursing Home. Elaine battled cancer for over 20 years and passed due to related illnesses. Elaine was born in East Chester, Nova Scotia on July 15th, 1945 where she was adopted by her parents, Richard A. and Ruth C. Alden. She was predeceased by her younger brother, John Alden. Elaine spent the majority of her childhood growing up in Takoma Park, Maryland. She attended Takoma Academy and recently attended her 50 year Takoma Academy reunion. Elaine married fellow classmate, Gerald Louis Price in 1965 with whom she adopted two children, Richard Edwin Price (Rick) and Helen Michelle (Price) Duvarney. They divorced in 1980. Elaine remarried Norman Charles Kennedy, August 20, 1982, after relocating to Massachusetts. Norman had two children from a prior marriage, Andrew S. Kennedy and Debra Kennedy. The couple built a home in Lancaster in 1983 and live there still. Elaine, who had studied nursing at Washington Adventist University, built a broad career in the medical profession, working as such institutions as Washington Adventist Hospital, and for many years Hospital Administration for UMASS Medical/Memorial, where she eventually retired. As a creative person, Elaine engaged in numerous cultural activities. She enjoyed and excelled in writing; as a reporter writing for a local newspaper, she won a United Press Award; as a poet she wrote much beautiful and insightful poetry, some of which were published and much of which she presented at numerous local gatherings. Elaine also thoroughly enjoyed quilting and scrapbooking. Elaine was involved in church and community as well. She spent time with the Lancaster Current Topics Club, for which she served for a time as president. She was very involved with the Lancaster Seventh Day Adventist College Church, where she served as Minister of Nurture, providing extensive assistance to those in need in the church community. Elaine sought to search out her biological family from Canada and succeeded in finding her parents, Frances and Vincent Kemp, who had married. She also met 10 surviving sisters and a brother in Prince Edward Island. She kept in very close contact with them since rediscovering them in the late 1980's and is survived by eight sisters, her brother, and her father, Vincent. Elaine also discovered that she was a "Butterbox baby”; she was born to a maternity home for unwed mothers which illegally sold babies into the United States and murdered "undesirable" babies. There was a book written about this place and a movie made. Elaine is survived by her husband of 34 years, Norman Kennedy; her son Rick Price of Sterling and his wife Kellie-Jean and their two children Joshua and Jared; her daughter Shelley Duvarney of Lancaster and her husband Steven Duvarney and their three children Lauryn, Harrison and Ava; her step-son Dr. Andrew Kennedy of Tennessee and his wife Elaine and their three children, Andrew, Megan and Grace; her step-daughter Debra Henke and her spouse Bubba and their two children Ty and Mercedes; her mother-in-law, Arlene Kennedy; and her sister-in-law and her husband, Dolores and James Londis; her nephews Adam and Brian Alden and her niece Lisa Alden. Elaine is also survived by her friend and first husband, Gerald L. Price. Elaine also leaves behind her biological father, sisters and brother and many nieces and nephews from her Canadian family. Elaine will be remembered as a loving, caring and generous human being with immeasurable warmth and generosity. She loved people and animals alike and taught us what unconditional love looked like by example. Services will be following cremation, January 28th at 3pm to be held at The College Church in Lancaster, Massachusetts. In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in memory of Elaine Kennedy to support cancer research and patient care at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, P.O. Box 849168, Boston, MA 02284 or via www.dana-farber.org/gift.