Linda Susan Kennedy

LINDA SUSAN KENNEDY died unexpectedly May 24, 2021 after a brief illness. Linda was born in Brownsville, TX June 1, 1953 to Charles D. (Jack) Kennedy and Joan Lee Shelburne Kennedy. Shortly after the death of her mother at the age of 4 she relocated to Albuquerque, NM with her father, sister and maternal grandparents. Despite returning to Texas (Houston) at the age of 9, after her father remarried, she always felt New Mexico to be her home and returned as soon as possible after graduating high school to attend the University of New Mexico. Over the next 18 years she earned a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX and a teaching certificate from the University of New Mexico, and traveled the country and Europe studying dance and working in a variety of local and regional theaters as stage manager, costume designer and shop manager. After returning to live in Albuquerque, NM she founded the Kennedy Dance Academy which subsequently became the Ballet Theater of New Mexico for which she served as the Managing Director until 2004. After leaving the Ballet Theater of New Mexico she pursued her second passion – child welfare. She worked as Regional Specialist for New Mexico Child Abuse and Neglect Citizen Review Board until 2012. In 2013 she moved to Santa Fe where she provided administrative support for State of New Mexico Children, Youth and Family Department/Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee and Department of Higher Education/GEAR UP. Linda was preceded in death by her great grandparents Frances and Richard Broyles, her grandparents Robert Schooley and Nell Louise Shelburne, Clifford Kennedy, Margaret Kennedy, and Zelpha B. Dix, her father Charles D. (Jack) Kennedy, mother Joan Shelburne Kennedy and step mother Frances G. Kennedy. She is survived by her sisters Laura Kennedy of Houston, TX and Karen Kennedy of La Vernia, TX; brother Kim Helms Kennedy of Santa Fe, NM; nieces Cara and Jana Couch of La Vernia TX; maternal aunt Susan Klein of Brownsville, TX; and cousins Pamela Buckingham of Brownsville, TX; Patrick Buckingham of Fair Oaks, Ca; Deborah Buckingham and son Cody of Birmingham AL. In lieu of flowers please share a message or story here on the Tribute Wall.