Danny B. Kennedy, of West Chester, PA passed away Wednesday April 23, 2025, at the age of 90 at The Summit in Hockessin, DE.  He was the husband of Margaret E. Kennedy (Jones).
The son of the late Rufus D. Kennedy and the late Lucille Stubbs Kennedy, Danny was born on July 21, 1934, in a one-room shack next to a watermelon patch on a farm in Glennville, GA. Arriving two months premature, his first bed was a shoebox kept in a dresser drawer.

His family moved around frequently during the Depression, but eventually they settled down in Savannah, GA.  Growing up in the swamps of Georgia and Florida, he spent his early years hunting, fishing, and camping.  He was a natural fit for the Boy Scouts and achieved the highest rank of Eagle Scout.  He earned every merit badge available at the time, but his proudest accomplishment was being a member of the elite Order of the Arrow (the Scouting equivalent of the National Honor Society).

Dan graduated from Savannah High School and was a member of the high school track team.  He claimed to never have been beaten in a race.  Upon graduation, he was extremely fortunate to qualify for a full merit scholarship to Georgia Tech.  He was the first person in his family to ever go to college; most of his relatives had never graduated high school, having to leave to work on their family farms.  At Georgia Tech, there is a tradition called the “Freshman Cake Race” where, before the Homecoming Game, freshmen students run a half-mile race, with winner receiving a cake. Dan won, of course.  His athleticism didn’t go unnoticed, and he made the school gymnastics team, travelling all over the country competing against other schools.  One of his favorite stories was, during a trip for a competition in New York City, he was photographed walking on his hands along the observation deck railing at the top of the Empire State Building.  He was asked to join the United States gymnastics team to train for the 1956 Olympics but turned it down because it would have required him to leave school and lose his scholarship.  During his time at Tech, Dan was a member of the Lamba Chi Alpha fraternity.  He graduated with a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering degree in 1956.

Dan got a job working at Standard Oil (Esso) in Baton Rouge but was shortly thereafter drafted into the Army.  Because he had been in the ROTC in both high school and at Georgia Tech, he served two years of active duty as a commissioned officer and two years of reserves in the Army.  Due to his years of experience hunting, Dan was a legendary shot; in the Army he qualified as a marksman (highest of the three levels) for every type of rifle and pistol he was allowed to shoot (i.e., “that included unlimited ammo”).

After leaving the Army, he returned to Esso, but his previous position had been filled.  His new assignment involved working on a leaking oil pipeline located in a muddy swamp.  He quickly decided to find another job and was hired as a Mechanical Engineer for Scott Paper in Mobile, AL.  Two weeks later, his replacement at Esso was killed when the leaking pipeline exploded.

Dan worked at the Mobile paper mill until 1972, when he took a new job as plant engineer at Scott’s Glen Falls, NY, mill, and later transferred to Scott’s Chester, PA operations as Manager of Engineering.  He was the chief engineer on their most challenging new design projects and won many awards for his work.

During this time, Dan had two extremely adorable children who definitely did not have anything to do with writing this paragraph.  Oddly and somewhat uncharacteristically, Dan did not win any awards for having such wonderful kids, but he should have.

Danny was a member of Radley Run Country Club for 30 years with golf as his passion. When Dan was not golfing, he enjoyed hunting, fishing and gardening.

In addition to his wife, Danny is survived by his son David, his daughter Dana Rainey and her husband Kenneth, and his two grandchildren, Steven and Blake.  His sisters include Joann Burch of Savannah, Ga. and Janet Kennedy of Ann Arbor MI.  

Relatives and friends are invited to his Memorial Service on Saturday, May 24, 2025, at DellaVecchia, Reilly, Smith & Boyd Funeral Home, Inc., 410 North Church Street, West Chester, PA 19380. Greetings start at 10:00-10:45 am, followed by his Military Memorial Service at 11:00 am.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to The Summit Memory Care, 1230 Limestone Road, Hockessin, DE, 19707 or Alzheimer’s Association.

Visit Dan’s Obituary at: www.DellaFH.com and click on Obituaries.

Arrangements by DellaVecchia, Reilly, Smith & Boyd Funeral Home of West Chester, PA 610-696-1181; www.DellaFH.com