Dorothy Kenney, 1927-2020

Dorothy Elizabeth (Stanley) Kenney, 92, of Lake Wales passed away Tuesday Feb. 18, 2020 at Bon Secours Manor in St Petersburg.

She was born April 28, 1927 to the late Arthur Paul and Margaret Elizabeth (Molter) Stanley in Lake Wales.

She was raised on Twin Lakes in Lake Wales where much of her life was influenced by water. She water-skied on barrow slats tied to her feet, learning to swim before she could walk. As a young woman she would ride her bicycle out to the local municipal airport where she took flying lessons and became the first woman to solo a plane from the Lake Wales Airport.

She held many interesting and varied positions in addition to raising five children, which included, secretary at Highland Park, student coordinator at Webber College, wrote a column for the Lake Wales News where she also operated a Linotype machine, a precursor to personal computers. Later she published her own small paper, Today and Tonight, that was distributed throughout Central Florida. For a time, she had a small bookstore called Coot’s Hoot. In later days she worked as an office manager for a hearing aid center before retiring in 2007.

She was preceded in death by her husband J. Paul Kenney; her five Stanley brothers, Paul, Frank, Edward, Robert and William; and her son James Stanley Kenney.

Survivors include her daughters Lynda Anne Kenney of Greenwich Village, NY, Karen Jeanne Kenney (Sara Hannon) of St Pete Beach, FL, Suzanne Elizabeth “Liza” (Kenney) Schroder (Ted) of Peachtree City, GA; son, Major Richard “Dick” Stephen Kenney of Waterloo, NY, k; sister Margaret Ann (Stanley) Kenney of Orlando, FL; nine Grandchildren and 10 Great Grandchildren.

Memorial services for Dorothy and J. Paul Kenney will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, March 7 at the Holy Spirit Catholic Church, 644 S 9th St., Lake Wales.

Condolences may be sent to the family at http://www.marionnelsonfuneralhome.com

In lieu of flowers, gifts can be made to 74th Street Elementary, 3801 74th St. N, St Petersburg, Florida 33709 ATT: PTA/ donation in memory of Dorothy Kenney.