Ms. Kennedy was born on August 9, 1946 and raised in Mobile, Alabama to the parents of Henry and Clara Lee Jones. She departed this life on Friday, January 8, 2021. While growing up in Mobile, Alabama, she attended the Most Pure Heart of Mary Catholic School for her formal education. From there, Mary attended Bethune Cookman College in Daytona Beach, Florida where she graduated with a degree in Business Administration.
Mary Z. Jones and Joseph Sampson gave birth to Louis A. Sampson and Angela E. Sampson in Daytona Beach, Florida. In 1974, she relocated with her children to New York, New York and was honored to have worked as an accountant for two world renowned companies - General Electric and Hewlett Packard. In 1991, she made the decision to return home to Alabama, married and worked as an Administrative Assistant for Mayor Jesse Norwood of Prichard, Alabama and her last professional employer was with Jackson & Harris Law Firm.
Mary’s talents were far reaching and included being an excellent cook, and an interior decorator. Her children will lovingly and fondly remember their mother as a woman who was extremely intelligent, articulate, loved to laugh, sing and travel, who was well organized, detailed, resourceful and most of all, a loyal warrior for her children. She loved Louis and Angela to the very end and their mother’s love will forever abide in their hearts.
She is preceded in death by her sisters: Agnes Jones Hogues and Eleanor Pettaway Jones.
Mary Zerlease Jones Kennedy leaves to cherish her beloved children: her son, Louis Andre Sampson and daughter, Angela Elizabeth Sampson-Keller; her son-in-love, Bernard Jeffrie Keller; grandsons: Louis Gibson and Cameron Ezell; nieces: Adrienne (Richard) Hogues-Winston and Kimberly Hogues; nephew, Lawrence (LaSeandra Nikki) Hogues; great nieces: Jakyla Lett and Kierra (Rashaud) Hogues-Williams; great nephews: DeAndre' Hogues, Jakari Stanley, Antwone Ratliff, Lawrence Yates, Jr., Terry Hogues and Paul McGhee; great great niece, Desirea Nodd; great great nephew, Rashaud Williams, Jr. Mary Kennedy leaves behind a host of beloved cousins and friends who reside around the United States.