|
Commander Robert Oscar Kedney, Jr., U.S. Navy, Ret., 66, of Carlisle, passed away Thursday, March 12, 2015 in the Kinkora-Pythian Home, Duncannon, PA.
He was a retired Commander for the U.S. Navy serving during Operation Desert Storm, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. During his service to our country he advanced to become the Commanding Officer of the USS Antrim from 1992 to 1994. He received his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Iowa, his Master’s degree from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, Washington D.C. and was a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity.
Commander Kedney was born in Dobbs Ferry, NY to the late Robert O. and Irene (Thorland) Kedney, Sr.
He is survived by his children, Robert O. Kedney, III of New Cumberland and Major Mollie G. Kedney currently stationed at Ft. Drum, NY; a grandson Oliver J. Woods and a second grandchild expected soon.
Graveside services with military honors are being scheduled with Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA and will be announced in this publication when completed.
Memorial contributions in Commander Kedney’s name are respectfully requested to Wounded Warrior Patrol, c/o Dr. Robert Hall, M.D., 161 Candlelite Dr. Carlisle, PA 17013.
To send messages of condolence to the Kedney family or for driving directions to Arlington National Cemetery, please visit www.Parthemore.com.
Obituary from The Sentinel; cumberlink.com
|
Neil Martin
I last saw ROK in July 2013. He had just undergone an operation to fuse a couple of vertebrae to deal with terrible back pain. He was living in Carlisle, PA, but staying with his son near Harrisburg while he was recovering.
He was still in pain, but in a good enough mood to sing the "Big ol' Per" song... "He fell asleep in the office one day, next to Cos and Diddly..." His son, of course, had no clue to what this was about.
I was on ROK's email list for some years. He sent out various conservative (very conservative) news items and cartoons, also his own short items on moments in Navy history and U.S. history in general. And he always called on my birthday.
The emails came sporadically, so I didn't realize they weren't coming at all for a few months. Then Tom Murray sent me an email last November: "I was wondering why ROK didn't call me on my birthday this year, so I Googled him and found this..." ROK's obit was attached.
We don't know what got him; I wrote to his son, but haven't gotten anything back.
He told me on an earlier visit that the best part of being in the Navy was when they gave him his own ship. I think he missed it a lot after he retired.
I'll look him up at Arlington the next time I'm down there.
Fran McCabe
Nice Neil, he was a good man.
Tom Livingston
Another shock....Bobby Kedney and I go back to early elementary. I believe we had most of the same teachers. Then too, we were in Cub Scouts together, in the same patrol group (I think that was the name of it). Somewhere I have a picture of the bunch of us Cubs visiting a tall sailing ship, our mothers standing proud (harried?) along-side our ragamuffin group, with us snazzed up in our Cub Scout blues. I remember Bobby particularly enjoyed that tour of that large sail-training ship (a foretaste of what was to come for him?) When we "graduated" to Boy Scouts shortly thereafter, I lasted less than a year. All I wanted to do was to go on long camping trips, climb mountains, canoe, pitch tents, and all the stuff that I had imagined Boy Scouts were supposed to do. Instead, it seemed that the goal of being a Scout was more mundane and acedemic: we were urged to fill our sashes with Merit Badges and work on attaining the next rank. Having no interest in either merit or ranking, I dropped out of the BS within the first year. Bobby had more determination than I, and stayed the course.
In school, Bobby was always ready to laugh. I remember he had no aversion to getting into hot water with the authorities. Kept the CODE. He and I remained pals through 9th Grade, when I lost touch. It is hard to think that my old childhood friend is gone. From what I read above, Bobby attained some impressive goals, and did HHS proud. He was a fine guy.