Elizabeth Ridley "Betty" Finney Kennedy

Mrs. Elizabeth Ridley “Betty” Finney Kennedy, 89, died Tuesday, March 5, 2019, at her residence, Greenway Farm, in Columbia -- her loving family in attendance. Funeral services will be conducted Friday, March 8, at 4:00 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church with Dr. Paul Bauer officiating. Following the service, friends and family are invited to a celebration of Mrs. Kennedy’s life at the Kennedy-Blackstone home, Greenway Farm, on Mapleash Avenue from 5:00-8:00 p.m. A private family graveside service will be held Saturday at Wilkes Cemetery with the Reverend Father Chris Bowhay officiating. Oakes & Nichols Funeral Directors is assisting the family with arrangements. Born August 14, 1929, Mrs. Kennedy was the daughter of former Columbia Daily Herald publisher, the late John Wesley Finney and his wife, the late Elizabeth Read Ridley Finney (originally of Murfreesboro). Mrs. Kennedy was a 1947 graduate of Columbia Central High School and earned her bachelor’s degree from Agnes Scott College in Atlanta, while also attending journalism classes at Emory University. She worked for the Georgia Press Association and the Atlanta Constitution during her time in Georgia. In the early 1950s, while working with her father at The Daily Herald, she began seeing Sam Delk Kennedy, a young assistant District Attorney who would become her husband and partner. They married November 6, 1954, and began a 64-year adventure during which they led The Daily Herald after Mr. Finney’s death until they sold the paper in 1983. After the Herald sale, the Kennedys owned five weekly newspapers in Mt. Pleasant, Parsons, Linden, Waverly, and Lawrenceburg over a period of years. Both Kennedys were Maury County natives, he from the west in Kettle Mills and she with roots in the Culleoka region. They met in the middle on Greenway Farm in eastern Columbia (first owned and occupied by Mrs. Kennedy’s parents), raised two children, and shared a passion for the progress of the community both in personal endeavors and through their efforts as leaders of the newspaper.Mrs. Kennedy’s genuine interest, not only in the news business, but in the people who make the news was obvious to everyone. She loved to fill Greenway Farm with friends, relatives, and business associates, learn their stories, and find out how they could help each other. Her generous spirit, curious reporter’s nature, sense of fun, and consummate hostess skills tended to benefit many visitors to the farm, old and young. She often took it upon herself to make an introduction or a recommendation, both in personal and business matters, when she saw an opportunity to help out those she held dear (and that was a long list). Local interests included long-time support of the Maury County Public Library, the James K. Polk Memorial Association, and Columbia State Community College (where the library is named after her father, John W. Finney). Mrs. Kennedy was a member of First Presbyterian Church for more than 50 years. She also took great pleasure in her friendships with members of the Tennessee Press Association. Publishers from across the state and their families were among her friends dating back to childhood as she grew up in the business. Survivors include her son, Sam Delk Kennedy, Jr. (Mary Susan Berry Kennedy) of Columbia; daughter, Elizabeth Ridley Finney Kennedy Blackstone (William “Billy” Blackstone) of Columbia; grandchildren, Samuel Delk Kennedy, III (Rachel Vest Kennedy) of the Kettle Mills Community, Mary Susan Berry Kennedy of Chicago, William Emory Blackstone, Jr. of Columbia, John Finney Kennedy “Jack” Blackstone of Chicago, Elizabeth Ridley Hartwell “Eliza” Blackstone of Charlottesville, Virginia; and great grandchildren, Margaret Berry Kennedy, Samuel Delk Kennedy, IV, Anne Ridley Greenfield Kennedy of the Kettle Mills Community, sister-in-law, Frances Kennedy Logsdon of Columbia; and beloved first cousin, Granville Sumner Ridley Bouldin of Murfreesboro. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband, Sam Delk Kennedy, on May 1, 2018; and her older brother, John William Finney, who died in action in France during World War II. Pallbearers will be grandsons Sam Kennedy, III, Jack Blackstone, and Emory Blackstone; dear friends Courtney Moore, Tim Locke, and Rusty Vest; and beloved cousins James I. “Buddy” Finney, Sumner Bouldin, Laws Bouldin, and Garrett Bouldin. The family is very grateful for the attention and care given by Dr. Cummins Couch and caregivers Shelby Riddle, Linda Cobbins, Pam Stovall, Sandra Kinzer, Joyce and Kristie Pillow, Randolph Armstrong, and John Lee Amos. The family suggests memorials to the Maury County Public Library, the James K. Polk Memorial Association, Columbia State, or the Tennessee Press Foundation, 412 North Cedar Bluff Road, Suite 403, Knoxville, TN 37923.