Shirley “Joan” Kennedy, 85, passed away on Sunday, July 20, 2014, at home in Kalispell, surrounded by her children and grandchildren.

Joan was born Oct. 2, 1928, in Poplar to Roy and Violet Grainger. As a child she lived in many small towns in Eastern Montana while her dad worked on Fort Peck Dam. She moved to Polson with her family when she was 12. She had many fond memories of being a young teen in Polson, swimming in the lake and staying in the cabins on the east lake shore. During the war her family moved to Fort Lewis, Wash., where her parents worked. When she was 17 her family moved to Kalispell.

Joan worked as a surgical technician at Kalispell General Hospital in the late ‘50s and became a registered X-ray technician there in the early ‘60s, later becoming head X-ray technician at the hospital. 

In 1970 her family started a two-year adventure, moving to Seattle and then to Boston. Those were enjoyable years for her, traveling and seeing the country and learning the history of the West and East Coast. After returning to the Flathead, she went to work for the New Medical Arts radiology department. 

Joan’s family was very important to her. She loved going to the family cabin on Bitterroot Lake with her children. She was young at heart and enjoyed spending time and being involved in her grandchildren’s lives.  One of her favorite vacations was going to Vegas with her mother, sister and daughters. During her retirement she spent much time with her family and, most importantly, her husband Keith, at the family “camp” on McGregor Lake.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Roy and Violet Grainger; her sister, Elda Stone; granddaughter, Janalee Jenkins; and the love of her life, husband Keith Kennedy.

She is survived by her children — son Gregg Mosley and wife Joy, daughter Lillian Jenkins and husband Louis, daughter Connie Kvaalen and husband Pat, son Mark Kvaalen and wife Karen, daughter Kari Mackin, sons Mitch and Jeff Kennedy, and daughter Jill Carral; grandchildren, Graham Mosley, Jacob and Sarah Jenkins, Catalina Daza-Obregon, John and James Kvaalen, Mark and Jain Walsh, Amie Ernst, Rob, Tanner, Jordan, Kaleb, Savannah and Ronnie Mackin, Britney Hammond, Christian and Branden Carral, Nicole, Ally and Jeffrey Kennedy; as well as 10 great-grandchildren.

Visitation will be held at noon, Thursday, July 24, at Central Christian Church in Kalispell, with services to follow at 1 p.m. Burial will take place at Glacier Memorial Gardens. 

Arrangements are entrusted to Johnson-Gloschat Funeral Home Kalispell.