Maureen Elizabeth (Charles) Kennedy

Maureen Elizabeth (Charles) Kennedy, 90, formerly of Milford, Texas, passed away peacefully April 1, 2025, at her home at the Delaney at Georgetown Village.

She was born November 19, 1934, in South Shields, England, to David and Doris Charles. The oldest of four, as a girl, Maureen and her family endured the bombings during the Battle of Britain during World War II. She attended the local convent school as well as the Gravesend County Grammar School for Girls.

As a young woman in England, she loved watching American Westerns and dancing at the palais. She held a variety of interesting positions – working for the Royal Courts of Justice, for a popular magazine of the time, and as a window dresser, to name a few. When Maureen was 24, her sister Margaret was expecting a child in Vietnam with husband Eric Hume. Her parents volunteered the “spinster” Maureen to travel there to lend her support to her sister, and so began the adventure that would take her to far off lands. Traveling by way of a freighter ship, she journeyed halfway around the world on a solo adventure through various ports.

Shortly after arrival, she met an American there who worked with her brother-in-law Eric as a civil engineer for Capitol Engineering. Temple Richard (Tex/TR) Kennedy — and his young sons Rick and Clayton — captured her heart. After a whirlwind romance with the love of her life, she and TR were married in Saigon, Vietnam, on March 18, 1959, and began their life together.

In late 1960, the family left Vietnam on another world tour, making their way through India, Egypt, Greece, Italy, the UK, then on to New York and eventually to TR’s native Texas to settle in a variety of rural towns. Maureen left everything she knew to build a new life in Texas.

In her adopted state, she was a Den Mother for the cub scouts, a member of the Daughters of the British Empire, the Aggie Moms’ Club, and played on several recreational bowling leagues, active in the local garden club and church. On the Kennedy Hereford Ranch (the K-Bar brand), she hauled hay, fixed fence, penned cattle and was on the leading edge of bovine science as an early student and practitioner of a program to artificially inseminate cows. Additionally, she worked as a real estate broker, served for many years as an election judge and precinct chair, and was active as a member and officer in the Williamson County and Ellis County Republican Women’s Groups – attending the state convention as a delegate at least twice and being named Ellis County Republican Woman of the Year in 2020.

She was smart & sassy, kind and inquisitive, but equally fierce and persistent in anything she set her mind to. She was a voracious reader and puzzler, collector of antiques, and a passionate supporter of the Salvation Army and countless other charities. Somewhere with all that, she found the time to raise seven successful children, all filled with the same integrity and veracity, with the balance of smarts and stubbornness, humor and hard work that she embodied.

She was preceded in death by her husband of 54 years, TR Kennedy, and their infant son David Lee Kennedy, by her parents, brother Mark Charles and sister Margaret Hume.

She is survived by her brother David Beverely (aka Bev) Charles of Hornchurch, England; children Rick Kennedy (Linda) of Burnet; Clayton Kennedy (Belinda) of Seguin, Celia Fuller of Jarrell, Bridget Jaunal (Garry) of Two Rivers, Wisconsin, Kevin Kennedy (Lisa) of Bertram, Earl Kennedy (Kayti) of Waxahachie, and Celeste Hutchison of Waxahachie; as well as numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and nieces and nephews on both sides of the pond.

Funeral services will be held at Grace Episcopal Church in Georgetown, Texas, on May 21, 2025, at 10:30 a.m., with a graveside service following at Bear Creek Cemetery near Bertram in Burnet County. Kevin and Lisa Kennedy will welcome family and friends at their home after, for food and fond remembrance.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be sent to The Texas A&M Foundation, 401 George Bush Drive, College Station, Texas 77840-2811. Please designate the “Maureen and Temple R. Kennedy ’46 Endowed Scholarship” in the memo line of the check. Alternatively, memorial donations may be sent to the charity of one’s choice.