Janie Kennedy

Janie Kennedy, 57, of Beebe, Arkansas, was born March 7, 1954, in Garner, Arkansas, to Roy and Kay Gowan Hill, and she died Monday, September 5, 2011. She began her career in EMS in 1983 as a dispatcher and received her EMT in 1984 from Foothills Technical Institute. Janie graduated her instructor course through Arkansas Fire Academy and taught her first class in 1985 at Foothills Technical Institute which became ASU in 2003. There she served as coordinator of all EMS programs. She was currently a paramedic for North Star EMS. In 2005, Janie was asked to be a paramedic with HOBY (Hugh O'Bryan Youth Leadership) and was honored to be a part of the program for five years.

She is survived by her son, James (Jennifer) Martin of Talking Rock, Georgia; daughters Katie (Chris) Ward of Beebe and Jessica (Wes) Beaty of Beebe; grandchildren, Dalton Martin, Abby Curtis, Chase Huskey, Justin Ward, Riley Ward, Austin Ward, Shane Ward, and Lawson Beaty; mother, Kay Jones of Beebe; brothers and sisters, Ron (Karen) Hill of Conway, Tim (Pat) Hill of Beebe, Vickie Hicks of North Little Rock, Bill (Mona) Hill of Malvern, Kelley (Richard) Sanchez of Searcy, Kim (Dan) Ireland of Romance, Jeff (Jodi) Jones of Romance. She was preceded in death by her father; stepfather Arlie Jones; and brother, David Hill.
Family will receive friends from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Thursday at Westbrook Funeral Home, Beebe. Funeral will be 2:00 p.m. Friday, September 9, 2011, at Beebe First Baptist Church, with burial in Antioch Cemetery. Memorials may be made to HOBY, c/o Sedley Tomlinson, 1301 Hickory Circle, West Memphis, AR 72301.