Jimmie Dale Kennedy

Birth: December 12, 1933 | Died: April 22, 2025

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Jimmie Dale Kennedy was born on December 12, 1933, in Beloit, Kansas, the only child of Russell and Mildred (Dukes) Kennedy. Sadly, Mildred died of an illness when he was just two years old, so Russell’s mother moved in to help raise young Jimmie until 1938, when Russell married Alice Junk, a widow; her son, Robert, was a few months younger than Jimmie. They lived on Alice’s farm several miles outside the town of Downs, where life in an old farmhouse with no electricity or running water was challenging. Jimmie attended the first grade in a one-room schoolhouse located on the edge of the farm. He was one of just eight students, and the only child in first grade. Jimmie’s first paying job was feeding chickens and turkeys for a neighboring farmer, who then entrusted him with driving a horse team during harvest when he was just nine years old.

In 1943, Jimmie moved to West Los Angeles with his father, who was an automobile mechanic. They lived with Jimmie’s aunt, uncle, cousin, and several other Kennedy relatives. Although it was during wartime, life in southern California was quite a change from life on the farm. Jimmie mowed lawns and worked other small jobs, rode the bus around Santa Monica and West LA, participated in Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, and enjoyed going to the movies and the beach.

After the war ended, Jimmie and his dad moved back to the Midwest, settling in Algona, Iowa. He spent his summers in Kansas, where he worked for an uncle by driving a combine, plowing fields, loading bales, and milking cows. He got his Kansas driver’s license at age fourteen so he could drive farm trucks, although he had already learned to drive when he was ten. While attending Algona High School, he was on the wrestling, track, and football teams, and he bought his first car, a 1931 Ford Model A coupe. As a senior, Jimmie was elected class president and co-captain of the track team and was part of the only undefeated wrestling team in Iowa that year. However, his most notable accomplishment as a senior was asking out a certain member of the Homecoming Court, a pretty junior named Chloris Skogstrom. They dated for over a year, he proposed right before her Senior Prom, and they married on August 17, 1952, which was the start of a wonderful marriage that lasted 72 years.

As the Korean war raged, Jimmie answered the call of duty in the summer of 1953 and enlisted in the U.S. Navy. He quickly stood out in boot camp, being selected as the Assistant Company Commander, and was named Honor Recruit at graduation. He attended radar school at Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay and in early 1954 he was assigned to the U.S.S. Carpenter, a relatively new destroyer stationed at Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii. The Carpenter’s role was anti-submarine warfare and aircraft carrier escort. During Jimmie’s first cruise to the far east, the Carpenter patrolled the Formosa Strait in defense of Taiwan, then visited ports in Japan, the Philippine Islands, and Hong Kong, which was quite an eye-opening experience for a Kansas farm boy. By now, Chloris was in Honolulu where the young couple had an apartment off-base, which allowed them to make many friends among the locals and be immersed in the life and culture of the islands.

Over the next three years, the Carpenter visited more far east ports, taking Jimmie to Australia and many Pacific islands where the evidence of World War II was still visible. Aboard the ship, Jimmie served as a Master-At-Arms in the ship’s police force, underwent “initiation” after crossing the equator, rose in rank and responsibility to Petty Officer First Class and leader of the radar crew, and eventually stood watch as Officer of the Deck while in port.

After an Honorable Discharge from the Navy in the fall of 1957, he and Chloris settled in Anaheim where Jimmie had relatives, and he was hired by the Anaheim Police Department in October of 1958. Jimmie’s steady rise through ranks and responsibilities seemed to follow the trajectory of his time in the Navy. After four years as a patrol officer and then dispatcher, he moved up to the Detectives Bureau, then patrol Sergeant, and commander of the Juvenile Bureau. During this time, he was promoted to Lieutenant, served as president of the California Juvenile Officers Association, and was appointed to the Governor’s Juvenile Arson Task Force. In 1976 he was promoted to Captain of Operations over the Patrol, Traffic, and Communications Bureaus.

During the early years of Jimmie’s career, the Kennedy family grew with the births of Cindy, Craig, and Steve. Jimmie was a devoted father and, although he sometimes had to work nights and weekends, he rarely missed his children’s events, attending Indian Guides meetings and Boy Scout campouts, and cheering them on through Little League games and high school basketball games, water polo matches, and swimming meets.

Throughout his career, he never stopped learning, and he instilled the importance of education in his children. He earned Associate’s, Bachelor’s, and Master’s degrees to help him in his work and prepare him for bigger challenges ahead. In 1981 he attended the FBI Academy in a class of 250 command-level police officers from around the world; they voted him to be their class spokesman at graduation. Later, he was invited to participate in further training at the FBI Executive Institute and the Secret Service Academy.

During an 18-month period as Acting Chief of Police, he literally faced trial by fire when Santa Ana winds caused a power line to spark a blaze that burned down several city blocks, destroying about 500 apartment units and displacing nearly 1,300 people before being brought under control; remarkably, there was no loss of life. Jimmie and the Fire Chief received commendations for their fast and coordinated response that saved many lives and prevented further spread of the fire in the most difficult and dangerous conditions.

His military service, police training, education, and breadth of experiences prepared him well for leadership and he was named Anaheim’s Chief of Police in 1983 after a nationwide search. As Chief, he began the process of planning and designing a major expansion and reorganization of the police station to provide needed space and facilities into the next century. He retired in 1987 after 29 years with the Anaheim Police Department, but that wasn’t quite the end of his career. After his successor died unexpectedly, Jimmie was brought out of retirement in 1993 to temporarily lead the department while the search was conducted for a new chief. In 2020, he was honored by the Anaheim Police Department with the naming of the “Chief Jimmie D. Kennedy Training Auditorium.”

Jimmie was a mentor to younger officers on the police force, other officers throughout Southern California, and students enrolled in Criminal Justice at Fullerton College, where he taught part-time throughout most of his career. Upon retirement from the police department, he taught full-time and also led the Criminal Justice Department for several years. After that he and Chloris settled into permanent retirement, enjoying reading, snow skiing and staying at their cabin in Big Bear, revisiting Hawaii, travelling to Europe twice with friends, enjoying their grandchildren and eventually great-grandchildren, conducting genealogical research, and remaining very active in their church. In 2003, Jimmie and one of his close friends from the Navy founded the U.S.S. Carpenter Shipmates Association and Jimmie was elected as the organization’s first president. They held a reunion in a different city each year, often attended by 100 or more shipmates and their spouses. A personal highlight came in 2019 when he participated in a veterans’ “Honor Flight” for a VIP weekend trip touring memorials in Washington, D.C. with son Craig as his escort.

Faith, hard work, integrity, dependable service, and steady leadership were central themes of Jimmie’s life, and he continued to use his gifts and talents in the service of others. He served as Lay Leader and chair of different committees at Anaheim United Methodist Church where he was a faithful member for more than 65 years. After retirement from the Anaheim Police Department, he served as Interim Police Chief of Palos Verdes Estates in 1988 and Claremont in 1989 while those departments reorganized and searched for permanent leadership. Shortly after he and Chloris moved into Walnut Village Retirement Community in 2010, he was elected President of the residents’ association and later served as a director of Front Porch Corporation, the parent company of Walnut Village and other retirement communities. Jimmie loved living in their apartment, hosting guests in the beautiful facility and grounds, working out in the gym and competing on Wii bowling teams, learning to oil paint in the art studio, and making many new friends in the Walnut Village community, where a number of members of their church joined them.

Jimmie was preceded in death by his parents, his stepmother and stepbrother, and his son-in-law, Douglas Williams. Jimmie’s legacy and values live on through his devoted wife of 72 years, Chloris; his loving children Cynthia Williams of Denver, Craig (Jenny) Kennedy of Corona, and Steven (Mary) Kennedy of Indianapolis; his grandchildren Eric (Tracey) Kennedy of Corona, Kelsey Williams of Denver, Megan (Tyler) Bernth of Corona, Trent Williams of Anaheim, and Andrew and Clare Kennedy of Indianapolis; and his great-grandchildren Danica Grzybowski, Lucy and Remi Kennedy, and Brooks, Breanne, and Bryce Bernth. Despite his accomplishments and accolades, Jimmie stayed true to his Kansas roots by always remaining humble, down-to-earth, friendly, and kind, and he was admired, respected, and loved by those who knew him. Jimmie left the world a better place because of his faith and service to God and the church, steadfast devotion to his family and friends, and loyal service to his country and his beloved Anaheim.

He is loved and dearly missed.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made “In Memory of Jimmie D. Kennedy” to: Anaheim United Methodist Church, 1000 S. State College Blvd., Anaheim, CA 92806 Honor Flight Southland, Attn: Donations, PO Box 80256, Rancho Santa Margarita, CA 92688 https://www.honorflightsouthland.org/donate