Off council, but still in the game,
Shirley Kennedy keeps serving at 83

Grosse Pointe Park resident Shirley Kennedy lost her city council seat this year, but she doesn't feel defeated. At 83, she says she's not tired and not done serving the city.

“I don't have any problem filling in my time,” said Kennedy, who still holds leadership positions at various Grosse Pointe foundations and Mariners Church in Detroit.

Kennedy lived in Detroit before moving to the Park in 1952 -- the same year she married her husband, Robert, who died in 1980.

At first, her only responsibilities were to be a housewife and mother to five children. However, she could see that her husband's line of work -- using copper for electrotype printing -- would soon be overtaken by technological advancements.

“I decided I'd better do something besides playing bridge and volunteer work, and started in the real estate business,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy worked in that field until 1979, when she was approached to be part of the city's Planning Commission. The next year, she helped start the Grosse Pointe Park Foundation, dedicated to fundraising for grants to the city.

One of Kennedy’s proudest achievements was her role in beautifying the border with Detroit.

“There was no question about it – Grosse Pointe Park had the odds against them at that time,” she said.

She helped lead the city’s campaign to buy undesirable properties – including a club, a restaurant and a funeral home – and replace them with a condominium complex.

In 1993, she was elected to the city council. Many – including Kennedy – consider her most notable achievement to be headlining the effort to get the Park out of the floodplain. The designation forced homeowners to pay much higher prices for insurance.

“In order to apply to the government standards, we had to build berms along Windmill Pointe,” she said.

Kennedy’s council career ended after the November elections. Newcomer Laurie Arora took her seat on the council. Kennedy said she was disappointed.

“If you're a good loser, you're going to lose,” she said. “I can't say that I'm a good loser and I thought I ran a decent campaign.”
Still, Kennedy said there was nothing major she would have done differently. In fact, she has nothing but praise for the work done by the Planning Commission, the council and the foundation.

For her council colleague James Robson, that feeling is mutual.

“She personifies the dedicated public servant,” he said. “She was always involved in all of the issues. She was … very thoughtful, very deliberative, and definitely had the best interests of the city in her heart at all times.”

Robson said he was sure council members would continue to seek Kennedy’s advice. And Arora acknowledged she was taking the seat of someone who has made many contributions to the community.

"The way I would fulfill the void that's there is to do my best and continue where she left off," she said.

Meanwhile, Kennedy’s life goes on.

“I'm just an ordinary citizen,” she said. “I'm back to volunteer work and playing bridge.” She also leases the upstairs flat of her house.

But she continues to have a full plate. She says she will remain heavily involved in the foundation and its fundraising projects. Kennedy also is pondering an idea for something the foundation has never done before.

“One thing I was really interested in – and it was one of the goals in my campaign – was to try to improve the business sector in the Park,” she said. “We could form some kind of committee and get some advice from someone who ... has some ideas to improve the business sector and to try to encourage people to buy locally.”
 

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