KENNEDY, Francis M. - Putnam

Eminence, Ind – Services will be at 2 p.m. today in Cloverdale Cemetery in Putnam County for Francis M. Kennedy, 85. A well known collector of bells  of every kind, Kennedy died Monday in Putnam County Hospital in Greencastle. He owned a farm west of Eminence. The collection of 232 bells on his farm included church bells, school bells, locomotive bells and numerous dinner bells.  A bachelor, Kennedy began in collection in 1953.  I bought a dinner bell to start out, he once said. “I got it for nearly nothing. Now they’re priced out of sight.” Kennedy had two favorite church bells, one 24” in diameter and the other 38”. Most were made of cast iron and the large weighs 814 pounds. The oldest, a bell engraved with the year 1734, once hung in a Spanish mission in California. Kennedy farmed 105 acres until failing health forced him to slow down. He raised cattle, hogs and sheep. A brother, Lewis, lived with Kennedy until his death in 1985 at age 80. Survivors include his sister. - kbz