Christine Tedford Kennedy

Dates: April 5, 1934 – July 5, 2026

Christine passed away at the age of 92 in Greenwood, MS, on the morning of July 5, 2026. She was born to Victor and Lillian Tedford in Pontotoc, MS, and grew up in the Mississippi Delta. Christine attended Gunnison and Sunflower schools and worked in cotton fields from ages 8 to 23. She accepted Christ at age 12 at Rena Lara Baptist Church, playing a significant role in her parents' later conversion to Christianity.

Christine worked as a nurse's aide at the Mississippi State Hospital in Whitfield, MS, where she met her husband, Merl Kennedy. They married on December 6, 1957, in Magee, MS, and there is a charming anecdote about them returning to work shortly after their wedding. She later worked in the hospital laundry department before becoming a stay-at-home mom.

In her later years, after her husband passed and her children were grown, she moved back to the Mississippi Delta in 1987 and spent over a decade at the Golden Age Nursing Home in Greenwood. Christine enjoyed hand-stitching quilts, crocheting, making paper crafts, and watching westerns.

Christine is preceded in death by her husband, Rev. Merl D. Kennedy, her parents, and her siblings. 

She is survived by her daughter, Teresa Freeman (Terry) of Lamar, MS, her son, Wally Kennedy of Indianola, MS, and her sisters, Alma Russell (Al Minnick) of Lakeside, CA, and Linda Leach (Jerry) of Greenville, MS.

Memorial donations can be sent to Dry Creek Baptist Church in Mendenhall, MS.

Visitation will be held at on Friday, July 10, 2026, from 10:00AM to 11:00AM at Dry Creek Baptist Church with funeral services and burial at Dry Creek Baptist Church. Funeral services will be held on Friday, July 10, 2026, at 11:00 AM at Dry Creek Baptist Church. Burial will follow in Dry Creek Baptist Church Cemetery.

For further inquiries, the contact number for Colonial Chapel Funeral Home is 601-849-5031

An online guestbook may be signed at www.colonialchapelmageemendenhall.com