John Paul Kenny

First got to know John Kenny through Little League Baseball when we were 12 years old. If I have the year right, I believe Carl Copek was on that team with us. We were the Athletics, and my dad and Mr. Kenny were the Head Coaches. We had a blast. I don’t like to brag, but yeah, we dominated… John’s dad was a giant human being (especially to a 12 year old kid). When he told you to “get a hit”, it was less of a suggestion (sounded more like a warning). So yeah, we were terrified. We were hitting baseballs and running around bases like we stole something. And John, he hit quite a few long balls that year, some probably still haven’t come down yet… We were Alter Boys together at Holy Cross. Yup. And that was a fun-fact we leveraged in different situations for many years thereafter. For example, a suspicious dad might inquire “You promise to bring Linda-Lou straight back home after the movie “? John would smile and say, “Hey c’mon, you know I was friggin Alter Boy”. Boom - done deal. Works every time. John lived on Elder lane, directly across the street from Holy Cross. That came in handy, because we skipped school constantly. I remember once, me, Packy, and John skipped DURING a gym class (we were running laps around the school, got hungry halfway through, and bolted right into John’s garage). Boom. Time for PBJs and Milk in John’s kitchen. Oh we ate good... We played Charger football together, which was a blast. Then High School came, John to Loyola, me to DHS. Our games were on the same day, so we weren’t able to see each other play often. But I saw John in a big game Senior year, and I can attest he was a powerhouse on Defense. He was an extremely dedicated and talented football player, and overall athlete. I was totally unsurprised when he was recruited to play college football. For most of the next 35 years after college, we weren’t living in the same zip code. But we would still manage to connect for beverages on a regular but infrequent basis when one of us was in town. Whenever we did, it was like were eating PBJs in his kitchen again within 5 minutes. That’s how it is with old friends. On behalf of the extended Beston clan (IL, NY, CT, GA, and FL), we send sincere condolences to the entire Kenny Family. Please know that John was a loyal and true friend with a unique sense of humor, and we will always remember the great times we had together. He was a life-long friend. And did I mention, the guy was a friggin Alter Boy ?