Wilda Elizabeth (Yoder) Kennedy , 104 of Indianapolis, IN, formerly of Chenoa and Fairbury area; passed away at 8:49 am, Thursday, November 21, 2019 at the Heartway Home in Indianapolis, IN.

Funeral services will be 12 noon, Saturday, November 30, 2019 at the Chenoa United Methodist Church, Chenoa; with Pastor Debbie Honegger officiating. Burial will take place in Pleasant Ridge Cemetery, rural Wing.

Visitation will be one hour prior to her funeral service on Saturday also at the Methodist church in Chenoa. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be directed to Chenoa United Methodist Church, Chenoa. Duffy-Pils Memorial Home, Chenoa is in charge of arrangements.

Wilda was born November 10, 1915 at Mason City, Iowa to William and Marion Claire Goodale Yoder as they traveled west to Montana to homestead land on the prairie. The family (now including Doris and Clifford) later moved to Wisconsin for seven years and then returned to Illinois to the family farm northeast of Fairbury, Illinois. On May 17, 1942 she married W. Frank Kennedy at the First United Methodist Church of Fairbury. They celebrated 62 years of marriage until Frank passed away on October 26, 2004. She later married Elmer S. Roth in October, 2005. He died on November 18, 2009. She was preceded in death by her parents, her sister Doris Lauth and brother, Clifford Yoder.

Her survivors include her daughter, Willissa "Lissa" Claire (Brent) Thompson, Bountiful, UT; her son, William "Bill" Stephen (Judith) Kennedy, Indianapolis, IN; eight grandchildren: the Thompsons: Benjamin (Melanie), North Salt Lake, UT; Kendra (Larry) Helferich, Normal, IL; Tara Thompson, Stamford, CT; Joel (Alejandra) Thompson, San Diego, CA; the Kennedys: Jessica (Adam) Delaplane, St. Louis, MO; Major Stephen William (Terri) Kennedy, Montgomery, AL; Kelsey Elizabeth (Nathan) Smith, Fishers, IN; David Willis Kennedy, New York City, NY. Also, there are 18 great grandchildren.

Wilda lived as an infant on the Montana prairie in a sod house while her father and mother were homesteading. After her parents decided corn and wheat didn't grow well in the high plains, they eventually moved on to Wisconsin to try farming there. Those were happy years for Wilda as she began her learning journey there with cousins in a small country school. Finally, after inheriting family acreage near Fairbury where her mother grew up and her parents met each other, they moved back to where Wilda enjoyed her early years in one-room schools and a happy farm life. After graduating from Fairbury Township High School in 1933, she attended Illinois State (Normal) University and taught in one room country schools (Phelps and Metz). Later she graduated from ISNU and taught fourth grade for over 20 years at Chenoa Grade School as the beloved teacher to over 500 students until her retirement.

During World War II she met Frank through Clifford where they both worked in making aircraft for the war effort and after marriage lived in Baltimore. They moved to Chenoa in 1951 and joined the Chenoa Methodist church where they remained loyal lifelong members. She remained active in church and community after retiring in 1972 as well as making enjoyable trips to visit Bill and Lissa while visiting grandchildren as well as taking in balmy winter climate in Florida and Arizona. For her lifelong commitment to Chenoa education, church and civic advancements, she was selected as the "Chenoan of the Year" in 2011. Her last six years required a move to Indianapolis to live in the loving and professional care of Bill and Judy and her Indy family for which she was deeply grateful.

Always interested in education, she enjoyed reading books to the Chenoa elementary school children after she retired. Her grandchildren were always a great source of delight. In addition to the membership in the Chenoa Methodist Church, she was active in the United Methodist Women, various Woman's Clubs in different communities, the Amitytown Painters Club in Pontiac, the Arts and Travel Club in Chenoa and the Word Weavers Club in Normal, IL. She was always interested in writing, family genealogy, photography, making albums and scrapbooking, gardening, and becoming a painter in her retirement years. One of her major accomplishments was taking a Reminiscences Class for seniors at ISU which enabled her to write her "Reminiscences of the Twentieth Century," completed in 2008, a legacy for her posterity. In the introduction she wrote "Now that I am past 90, it appears to me that time is running out." Little did she know that she still had 11 years to go!