Francis
Xavier Kennedy
September
10, 1940 – October 26, 2014
I want to recognize my sisters, Mary Cameron and Liz Sealey who are here
today and on whose behalf I speak. Although
we followed careers in education, different from the business route that Paco
took, and even though we moved abroad in the 1970s, we all stayed very close
together as a family. I want to thank his
wife, Marjory and her family for this opportunity to give a tribute to Paco.
Paco had a special place in the Kennedy family.
He was born Francis Xavier, September 10, 1940, eldest of five children,
of Lydia Loinaz and Luis Fred Kennedy.
From an early age, he was called Paco,
which is the Spanish nickname for Francis, given to him so as not to mistake
him for his namesake, our uncle, Francis Xavier, my father’s youngest
brother.
My father, Luis Fred Kennedy was the eldest of six siblings who married
and all had children. So, Paco was not
only the eldest of his immediate family but of the whole Kennedy clan of 25
first cousins. Paco held a special place in the hearts of not only his
immediate family but of his extended families of aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces
and nephews. I honor many of these who
have travelled from far to pay their last respects. He always made a point of
staying in touch, and I know that Marjory had a lot to do with this.
As an older brother, he was leader of the pack, and maybe because of
expectations placed on him, needed to assert his authority now and again. He would always want to be our parent in one
way or another. On many occasions, he
would refer to me as Charles, his son. How
he mistook us I have no idea, the hair alone, you think, would differentiate
us.
He had a caring instinct, he’d always take care of business. I can
remember getting into difficult straits, stuff I would not want to tell my
parents and Paco was the one I turned to.
Even though we were ten years apart, he included me in many of his
activities, and this for a younger brother was a great thrill. He loved movies, in his later years, taped
thousands of them to house a huge library at his home. When younger, he would ask me to accompany
him to matinees at the Carib, Palace and Rialto theatres; every time there was
a boxing match in town, we would go together to the Race Course to see the fight; I learned about table saws
and carpentry while sharing his wood work projects; he was an avid tennis
player and would invite me often play at Liguanea Club; we would stay up,
competing against each other late into the nights, playing table tennis on the
back verandah at home; he taught me how to use his BB gun; he let me plan his Bachelor
party and asked me to be his Best Man at his wedding. These are wonderful memories.
Paco was very guarded, closed in many ways. He had tremendous pressures put on him
growing up as the eldest child, expectations to secure his place in the family
and in the business.
But I remember so many times when he let down his guard. I shall never forget the time he hugged me
when our Dad died, and we both cried on each other’s shoulders. I shall never forget the surprise he gave me
when he showed unexpectedly for my daughter’s wedding, January of all months in
Canada. I know how much he hated the
cold. And most recently, I shall always
treasure the moments he held my hand and squeezed it for the longest time while
he lay in his bed at UWI hospital in Intensive Care, unable to speak, but so
very much alive in his eyes and facial expressions.
My childhood memories are of him returning in the summer months from
boarding school in Washington DC. Jesuit
educated, he left Campion Hall in December 1951, enrolled at St. George’s
College until the middle of third form when he moved to the United States to
attend an all boys Jesuit Boarding School, Georgetown Prep in 1954. He graduated 1958 top of his class, famous in
the school as the one who tutored all the other boys in Mathematics. After that, he attended Holy Cross College in
Worcester, Massachusetts, but for a short while; he was soon back in Jamaica,
to begin his business career at GKCO in 1959.
60 years ago, they did not test children’s learning abilities in schools
as they do today, but I am certain that if labels had existed then, he would
have been known as a gifted child. I
remember the day his IQ scores came in, they were off the chart, genius level.
He had all the characteristics of giftedness:
top of his class, problem solver, highly energetic, impatient, driven,
keenly interested in many subjects.
Characteristic of gifted children, he possessed a strong sense of
fairness, discerning right from wrong.
The times I remember seeing Paco the most upset were when he sensed
someone was trying to cheat him. He had
no tolerance for misinformation, for corruption, for stupidity or for anyone
who might be trying to manipulate him or take advantage of him.
This brilliance along with a deep sense of integrity are what made him a
keen businessman. My mother always said
he was like Midas, he had the touch of gold.
Whichever company he was asked to run at GKCO, he was able to turn it
around to make it profitable.
My father called him a man of the people. The large numbers of persons here today, the
outpouring of love and messages are testimonies of how much Paco was
loved. He was a man who harbored no
prejudices, discriminated against no one, made no judgments based on sex,
class, race, or religion. This is why
people loved him. He was a true
egalitarian, he worked not to amass great amounts of wealth but rather to do
good, to serve his country. He was fired
by this zeal.
He was the best brother to me, my sisters, Mary and Elizabeth. He loved our families as his own. Just as he loved our children, Amanda, Sarah
and Julia, likewise I hold dear to my heart his own children, Cathrine and
Charles, loving them as my own. He
showed respect and love for my wife, Georgianne, accepted her from the
beginning and welcomed her into the Kennedy family. He loved our eldest daughter, Amanda, whom he
called his second daughter, and was godfather to our second daughter, Sarah,
both of whom are here today.
He had a knack for making you feel special. He would invariably start a conversation with
a joke, share that contagious laugh of his, and pat you on the back. He was a master at lowering your
defences. He loved his family as I am
sure he loved every one of you sitting here today.
“Big boy, you take care of yourself.”
These were the last words I remember him saying when I called him from
Canada for his birthday. He always had a
way of “bigging’ up others.
In the communion of saints, I am sure he is with them, somewhere in
spirit with my Mom and Dad, with my eldest sister, Celia who have pre-deceased
us and with the many friends and family who have gone before us.
We are sad at his passing but happy for all the good memories of true
brotherly love.
May you forever rest in peace, Paco.
We love you and we miss you.
Fred W. Kennedy
Holy
Trinity Cathedral, Kingston, Jamaica.
November
08, 2014
What a beautiful tribute. I wish I had known him!
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