Ancestors
Ella Beatrice Kennedy
1922-1992 · Rodney, Mecosta County, Michigan
Also recorded as Ella B. Kennedy
Born 1922, Rodney, Mecosta County, Michigan
Died 1992
Ella B. Kennedy was born on 15 November 1922 at Rodney, a small town in Mecosta County in the middle of Michigan's lower peninsula. Her parents were Walter J. Kennedy and Beatrice Smith, and her middle name, Beatrice, was her mother's. She had at least two sisters, Jessie and Allie.
By July 1942, when she was nineteen, Ella was living in Grand Rapids and applied for a Social Security number there. She married Donald Rozela of Grand Rapids, the son of two Polish immigrants. In April 1950 the census found the young family at house number 2163 in Kent County. Ella was 27 and kept house. Donald, also 27, worked as a service man for a gas company. Their sons Donald W., two, and John N., a baby born the November before, were at home.
Ella and Donald raised five sons: Donald W., John N., Jack Allen, Robert and Richard Scott. The eldest carried the middle name Walter, the name of Ella's father, and was probably named for him. The boys grew up in the Forest Hills neighborhoods east of Grand Rapids. Their son Jack Allen died in 1965 at nine or ten years old and was buried at Cascade Cemetery.
In February 1988 Ella's mother-in-law, Mary Rozela, died at 89. The obituary named "Don and Ella Rozela" among the family.
Ella died in Grand Rapids on 10 September 1992, aged 69. Her obituary named her husband Donald, her sons Richard S., Robert, Donald W. and John N., and her sisters Jessie Shook and Allie Eichenberg. She was buried in Section A of Cascade Cemetery in Cascade Township, where Donald joined her in 2008.
Sources
United States census of 1950, Michigan, Kent County, enumeration district 41-37, sheet 71, lines 19 to 22; National Archives, 1950census.archives.gov, image 43290879-Michigan-109296-0046.
Obituary of Mary Rozela, Grand Rapids newspaper, February 1988; clipping photographed on Find a Grave memorial 75641077, added by KathyCook, 28 September 2019.
Obituary of Richard Scott Rozela, Heritage Life Story Funeral Homes, Van Strien Creston Chapel, Grand Rapids, heritagelifestory.com/obituaries/richard-rozela.150687.
Cascade Cemetery, Cascade Township, Kent County, Michigan, Section A; photograph by Mike Cronk, 2 December 2015, Find a Grave memorial 101245173.
United States, Social Security Numerical Identification Files (NUMIDENT), 1936-2007, FamilySearch 1:1:6KQ6-NMFZ.
Michigan, Obituaries, 1820-2006, FamilySearch 1:1:Q2TS-1B6S.
1950 United States census, Michigan, Kent County, Grand Rapids Township, enumeration district 41-37, lines 19 to 22, enumerator Rhea M. Barnum; National Archives and Records Administration, image 43290879-Michigan-109296-0046
Find a Grave, memorial 101245173, Cascade Cemetery, Cascade Township, Kent County, Michigan, Section A; photograph added by Mike Cronk, 2 December 2015
Obituary of Richard Scott Rozela, Heritage Life Story Funeral Homes, Van Strien Creston Chapel, Grand Rapids, Michigan, heritagelifestory.com/obituaries/richard-rozela.150687
United States, Social Security Death Index, entries for Ella B Rozela and Donald Rozela (FamilySearch); Michigan Obituaries, 1820-2006, FamilySearch ark:/61903/1:1:Q2TS-NVJ4
1950 United States census, Grand Rapids Township, ED 41-37, National Archives image 43290879-Michigan-109296-0046; United States Social Security Death Index; Michigan Obituaries 1820-2006 (FamilySearch ark 1:1:Q2TS-NVJ4, Donald Rozela with spouse Ella B Kennedy Rozela); Western Michigan Genealogical Society index to the Grand Rapids Press, obituary 13 September 1992; obituary of Richard Scott Rozela, Heritage Life Story Funeral Homes, November 2025; Find a Grave memorial 101245167
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Cite: Heirology, "Ella Beatrice Kennedy (1922-1992)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/ella-beatrice-kennedy-1922-1992-6b888e.