Lori Elizabeth Knight Kennedy
Lori Elizabeth Knight Kennedy was born on August 17, 1970 in Dallas, Tx. She gave her life to Jesus Christ and was baptized on Sept. 14, 1980, at Park Cities Baptist Church, where she remained active throughout her school years. She graduated from Lake Highlands High School in 1988 and went on to earn bachelor's and master's degrees in science in Speech and Language Disorders from Texas Tech University with research in pediatric autism. Lori was also a member of Pi Beta Phi sorority. She continued serving Christ at First Baptist Church Lubbock and was a Home Mission Board summer missionary in Phoenix in 1994.
Lori began her career as a speech pathologist in 1994 in Dallas. In 1995 she was commissioned as a two-year Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Global Service Corp. missionary to Miami. There she helped establish the inner-city mission Touching Miami with Love and was a volunteer pediatric speech pathologist with Jackson Memorial Hospital. While in Miami, Lori began dating her Sunday school teacher Eric Kennedy at University Baptist Church. She returned to Dallas in 1997 to attend Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, earning a Masters degree in Christian Education. She was also director of Crossover Ministries at North Dallas Baptist Church and a volunteer speech pathologist for Head Start.
Lori and Eric married on Oct. 10, 1999, in Dallas and returned to Miami. Lori again served with Touching Miami with Love and was the assistant director of the Baptist Student Union at the University of Miami before devoting herself full-time to the work of speech pathology. Eric and Lori moved to Birmingham, in 2003 where Eric attended Beeson Divinity School and Lori worked as a speech therapist for Midfield Elementary School. Their precious son James Ronald Kennedy was born Feb. 1, 2005.
The family moved to Bedford, In., in 2007 to pastor Community Baptist Fellowship. Lori continued serving children at church and as a speech pathologist with the North Lawrence Community School system. She always wanted a son and a daughter, and on Feb. 25, 2009 God blessed her and Eric with the birth of their sweet daughter, Elizabeth Carol Kennedy.
In 2014 Lori and her family moved to Ringgold, where Eric became pastor of Ringgold First Baptist Church and Lori became a speech pathologist with Catoosa County Public Schools. The Kennedys fell in love with their church and community in Ringgold and considered it their home.
Lori was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in July, 2021 and went home to be with Christ on April 26, 2024. She is survived by her loving husband Eric and children James and Ellie, her parents Ron and Liz Knight, sister Angie Buja, brother-in-law Evan Buja, nephew Henry Buja, along with numerous beloved cousins and extended family. She was preceded in death by her grandparents and nephew Ike Buja. Lori will be remembered for her love of Christ, fierce devotion to her family, musical gifts, God-given ability to help children speak, courage, sense of adventure, and wonderful sense of humor.
Funeral services will be held at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 4, at Ringgold First Baptist Church. Interment will follow at Anderson Memorial Gardens.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Ringgold First Baptist Church New Building Fund.
The family will receive friends 3-7 p.m. on Friday and two hours prior to the service on Saturday at Ringgold First Baptist Church.
Arrangements are by Heritage Funeral Home & Crematory, Battlefield Parkway.