Rozanne M. Kenney

Rozanne M. Kenney

November 13, 1940-April 20, 2025

Rozanne McGill Kenney died on Easter Sunday, April 20, 2025, at the South Haven Living Center in Wahoo, Nebraska. She was 84.

Born on November 13, 1940, to Patrick McGill and Elizabeth “Bly” McGill, Rozanne was the third of eleven children and grew up on a small farm near Wisner, Nebraska. Rozanne was proud to grow up in a big Irish Catholic family. She treasured her memories of playing with her siblings, helping her mother care for the little ones, and being part of a family that loved music so much.

In fact, music was a huge part of Rozanne’s life. She started playing the piano when she was six, played her first public church service for the weekly Children’s Mass at St Joseph’s in Wisner at age 8, and she never looked back. She often played piano with her family when they gathered to sing. She performed with her sisters who she loved dearly. Her entire family would often perform publicly for a variety of events. And as a young woman, Rozanne landed an agent and hit the open road playing piano professionally.

Rozanne had fond memories of a six-month gig at the VFW Lounge in Grand Island. She followed up with a shorter stay in Springfield, Missouri. Then she found another long-term residence at the Pony Express Bar inside the Hotel Rubidoux in St. Joseph, Missouri. And then she returned to Grand Island for her adoring fans who wanted her back.

In 1963, Rozanne Married John Kenney and together they had four sons, Kevin, Keith, Joseph, and Daniel. During those years, Rozanne spent time as a homemaker, a volunteer, and a Real Estate Agent but she never lost track of what was most important to her. Her family, her Catholic faith, and her love of music.

In fact, for the rest of her life, that is what sustained her. Rozanne loved her phone visits with her parents and her siblings. She loved raising her children and watching them grow up and get married. She loved learning about her grandchildren and their many activities. And she was overjoyed to live long enough to become a great-grandmother.

Rozanne was a life-long Catholic and it was her Faith that steadied her during many of her most challenging moments.

And even though the last several years of her life were filled with physical pain and suffering, she never forgot about her music. And we will never forget the memory of Rozanne, frail and using oxygen, performing a Christmas concert for the other senior residents of her apartment complex not that long ago. She had a gift to share and she hoped it would bring them some Christmas joy.

Rozanne was a very special woman and we are thankful to God for the gift of her life. She was a wonderful daughter, sibling, aunt, godmother, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. And she will be forever missed.

Rozanne was preceded in death by her husband, John Kenney; parents, Patrick and Bly McGill; brothers: Con, Patrick, and Clem; sister-in-law, Sheila; nephews, Andrew McGill and Christopher Gabriel.

Rozanne is survived by her children: Kevin, Keith, Joseph, and Daniel along with their spouses; twenty-two grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; brothers: James, Robert, Ken, and Mark; sisters: Kathy Howard, Colleen Fogarty, and Mary Koelsch and their spouses; countless nieces and nephews and godchildren.

VIGIL SERVICE: Sunday, April 27, 2025, at 7:00PM with VISITATION from 5:30-7:00PM at St. Robert Bellarmine Catholic Church, 11802 Pacific St., Omaha

MASS OF CHRISTIAN BURIAL: Monday, April 28, 2025, 10:30AM at St. Robert Bellarmine Catholic Church. A Luncheon will follow at St. Robert’s.

INTERMENT: Holy Sepulchre Cemetery immediately following the luncheon.

Memorials are suggested to Children’s Scholarship Fund, 7837 Chicago Plaza, Omaha, NE  68114.

To view live broadcasts of the Services, please visit www.heafeyheafey.com and click the “Live Cast” button at the top of the home page.

Heafey-Hoffmann-Dworak-Cutler, West Center Chapel, 7805 West Center Road, Omaha, Ne 68124. (402)-391-3900. www.heafeyheafey.com