Kennedy, Wallace Thomas "Lefty"

Wallace "Wild Hair" Kennedy, having caught all the fish in Jasper county Missouri, is now ready to play ball. Watch him, boys!

Wallace Thomas Kennedy, age 85, 4030 S. Joplin Avenue, Joplin Missouri, died at 2:15 pm Aug 15, 2000, at Freeman hospital West after an illness. Born to Festus Kennedy and Bessie Cox Kennedy on Aug 9, 1915, in the community of Spurgeon, south of Joplin. He was reared there by his grandparents Cephus Urie and Riley Urie, and later by his stepmother, Ella Kennedy...married Leona Belle Hoagland on Nov 31, 1942, in Joplin. She survives of the home. As a young man, he worked in the mines at Spurgeon, where he learned to use explosives. He later was employed at Atlas Powder Company, where he helped create the plants's first emergency response vehicle. For the World War II effort, he helped start a TNT line at an explosives plant operated by Atlas in Peducah Kentucky. ...he was an avid baseball player as a young man, playing in a local professional league and exhibition games. He was a gardener, fisherman and pool player. Also surviving are a daughter, Sandra Sue Hughes, Tulsa Oklahoma; a son, Wallace Leon Kennedy, Joplin; four grandchildren, Shon Hughes, Broken Arrow Oklahoma, Holly Hughes, Ward Colorado, and Taylor Kennedy and Wyatt Kennedy, both of Joplin; three great-grandchildren, Hunter Hughes and Griffin Hughes, both of Broken Arrow Oklahoma, and Ella Wren Runningrabbit, Ward....