Barham (Bannie) Foster Kennedy

Barham Foster (Bannie) Kennedy, II entered eternal rest on November 28, 2025, at the age of 96.

Bannie Kennedy was born in Union, South Carolina where he attended High School. He completed a degree in Chemical Engineering at Georgia Tech in 1950, and, in the same year, was employed by E. I. DuPont de Nemours in Chattanooga, Tennessee. In January 1951, he married Myrna Kathleen Boaze of Atlanta, Georgia. In the Air Force reserves, he was called up in 1952 to serve in the Korean War, received electronics training at Keesler AFB in Biloxi, Mississippi, and was stationed at the Tachikawa AFB in Tokyo, Japan. When the fighting ended in 1954, he returned to work at DuPont in Chattanooga.

For the next 39 years, Bannie worked for DuPont in the Textile Fibers, Chemicals & Pigments, Explosives, and International departments. He retired in 1992 as Vice-President – Manufacturing, Asia Pacific. Upon his retirement, Bannie and Myrna returned home from Tokyo and Singapore to Little Browns Creek in Union, South Carolina. In his initial retirement years, Bannie contracted with DuPont safety consultancy, working primarily with large organizations in Australia.

His civic activities later transitioned to more local services, marked especially by his advancement activities on behalf of Union County hospital services and USC-Union. He never missed a chance to endorse the high-value education that USC-Union delivers to its students and community. He was a faithful member of the Union Presbyterian Church and especially loved teaching Sunday School.

Bannie’s life was marked by his Christian faith, his love of and devotion to family, and the respect he accorded the people he engaged with in his daily life, whether on the factory floor, in international business conference rooms, or in local businesses. His values were straight forward expressions of courtesy, honesty, fair treatment, and decency.

Bannie was never more content than when walking a quail field with friends or contemplating a fishing line disappearing below the surface of a pond or bay. He loved the hours spent with his carving club; he loved learning carving skills, but we think it was more about the community they built together. The same deep friendships were formed with his Wednesday lunch group that met for many years.

As his physical life slowed down, Bannie sold the Little Browns Creek home and moved into the Summit Hills retirement community in Spartanburg. In the three years he lived there, he developed new, deep friendships; a new community of people who he loved and who loved him.

Bannie was preceded in death by his wife of 55 years, Myrna Kennedy, his parents, Albert Gibert Kennedy, and Conya Lafayette Traynham Kennedy, and a brother, Benjamin Peale Kennedy. He is survived by a brother, Albert Gibert Kennedy, II (Betty) and three sons, Albert Gibert Kennedy III (Pamela), Thomas Perrin Kennedy III (Maggie), and Barham Foster Kennedy III (Renee). He is also survived by numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Arrangements are being made by Holcomb Funeral Home in Union, South Carolina. The funeral service will be held at the Union Presbyterian Church, 101 W. South Street, Union, SC at 2:00 PM on Sunday, December 7, 2025. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the USC-Union Scholarship Fund, PO Drawer 729, Union, SC 29379.