My Beloved Husband, James A. Kennedy, DVM, MS
WHY I WROTE THE BOOK
5 Star Amazon review 8/12/2020 Sherri Nations-Wisdom (8.5 years later and readers are still touched by Dr. James A. Kennedy)
“August 12, 2020
A Woman’s Eternal Love for God & Her Cowboy Knight, Her Boaz
Written to Barbara
Hi sweet Barbara
I just finally read your book and am at the end of it. I have laughed & I have cried with you. I’m so thankful that I got to share in your love story & so happy you wrote a book of your love for your “Jimmykins.” I have to say I am completely torn up and heartbroken. I don’t want to make you cry, but wanted you to know that I feel like I know you & Jim. Such a beautiful Godly love between y’all and knowing that God brought y’all together, is just so beautiful. I don’t understand why so many precious women of God, have lost their loves, their soul mates. My Momma & Mom in law, lost theirs, too. You are so precious and so loved by Jesus. I pray that the Lord will just love on you every second of the day and that He comforts you continually every day.
I’m just so torn up. Love you sister in Christ and hope your days are filled with happiness and laughter again. I loved y’alls laughter & ya’ll had me belly laughing so much. I love to laugh too and your love story has definitely touched my life in a wonderful way……because I got to share in just a bit of y’alls beautiful blessed life. Thank you so much for writing a book which represents your eternal love for God & your Jimmy. I pray that I didn’t make you cry. Have a blessed day.”
Back at the Top
[pp. 201-202 two days before our marriage]
——-Original Message——-
From: James Kennedy
To: Barb Voss
Sent: Wed Aug 24, 2011 2:26 AM
Subject: Good Morning
“Good morning, did you rest? I am in one of those retrospective moods today listening to ‘Rainy Night in Georgia.’ I have been to the top fallen to the bottom rose back to the top only to fall again, but today with you I am at the top again and I don’t want to fall to the bottom again. Love me as I love you, be mine as I am yours, for all time to come. Jim.”
——-Original Message——-
From: bvoss
To: jameskennedy
Sent: Wed Aug 24, 2011 7:27 AM
Subject: Good Morning
“Wish I could be there to keep you from falling again, stay UP with me, Jim, we both need to keep each other up. This day will be long for I just want to be in your arms. I now must now get off running through the day. Hope your day goes well your Barb”
——-Original Message——-
From: jameskennedy
To: bvoss
Subject: Re: Good Morning
Sent: Wed Aug 24, 2011 1:37:31 PM
“I am referring to life not days and I am saying that with you I am back at the top what happens during a day are little stumbles that you catch yourself or someone catches you but you don’t fall. So you are here and with me that wasn’t a down message it was an up message and you are the reason for the top.”
______________________________________________________________________________
“You can’t blame gravity for falling in love.” ~Albert Einstein~
“Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the LORD has promised to those who love Him.” ~James 1:12~
My Inanimate Speaker
I have never seen anything that expresses what grief feels like until I saw a picture of this statue. It represents one’s guts ripped out, body limbs limp, feeling like a deflated balloon, a never-ending scream and a heart that feels like it is dying or dead.
This is a picture of the bronze statue by Albert Gyorgy located at Lake Geneva, Switzerland. The statue is called “Emptiness.” When I first saw it, my body instantly reacted with a raw, deep gasp.
I can still feel like a deflated balloon lying on hard, freezing ground. I’m a blob of red, flat rubber, 99% leveled with only the 1% of remaining air keeping me alive.
“I was in the depths of pain. I felt like half my body had been severed and all my blood and guts were hanging out and my heart was so pierced that it was struggling to keep pumping so I could live.” p. 311 My Cowboy Knight, My Boaz “I continued to scream at night and expected the neighbors to come running. Lucky the cat always ran away when I screamed.” p. 317 My Cowboy Knight, My Boaz“I made many trips to my doctor in LaJunta because my chest wouldn’t stop hurting. Pain meds for the hip did nothing for my physical heart pain or my grieving heart. The doctors obliged me with doing heart tests and just kept telling me it was grief. My heart was actually hurting from the grief chemicals my body was producing. I didn’t understand that. All I knew was that my heart was physically hurting and I thought I was going to die of broken heart syndrome. Amidst the pain I remember thinking, ‘I know what the word ‘heartsick’ means.'” p. 324 My Cowboy Knight, My Boaz
This statue speaks of being barren, vacant, hollow, numb and displays despair. Grief may be a normal part of life, but can be a never-healing bruise when repetitive and accompanied by trauma. Attending GriefShare classes for 36 weeks certainly helped me, but I still repeat what GriefShare taught me … “You never fully recover, you adjust.”
This inanimate statue can express my grief, but the Bible has the power to reach my inmost parts. “The word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12.
He will mend my bleeding heart by weaving it together and wrap it to stop the leaks-my paraphrase for Psalms 147:3 “He heals the broken-hearted, And binds up their wounds.” My only help … see p. 331 My Cowboy Knight, My Boaz
The Falls Before the Falls
(The trip to Niagara Falls before the wounding fall and the fatal fall).
p. 237-240
To: bvoss
From: jameskennedy
Sent: Wed, Sep 28, 2011
“Barb, It is quite obvious to me that we are both hopeless and helpless when we are not together. I need you by my side all the time and never want to be away from you. I love you so much. Jim”
Our trip to Buffalo was like a second honeymoon. We stayed at the Adams Mark overlooking the water. We didn’t mind that it rained and was cold the whole time. When Jim wasn’t doing his two speeches, we had fun. His speeches were incredible. We were together and so much in love.
The morning we ventured over to see Niagara Falls, we donned our rain gear.
(The following are never before seen photos from our trip to Buffalo and the Inner Harbor Project including the squirrel that lived on the 537 ship/these photos are not included in the book).
When we got out of the rental car, Jim put on his hooded rain cape. When I looked over at him and started laughing at him so hard, there was a resulting uncontrollable surge of, yes, gas that released from me. I laughed so much that I almost fell over on the wet pavement. Jim thought it was so funny that he couldn’t get out any words, just waves of intense laughter with me.
I was totally humiliated, but looking at him in his hooded cape, I got out the words, ‘Hey, look, it’s Robin Hood.’
We both bellowed with laughter so hard we spent at least twenty minutes holding on to the rental car for support trying to compose ourselves before walking over to the falls. There have been many references to this story between us, always resulting in some kind of jocularity.
I had the honor of hearing my brilliant husband speak again at a conference. He had made the huge discovery into why a large number of cattle were dying near a town. He traced the paint chips on the ground that the herd was eating to lead poisoning from the water tank. Whoever had scraped the tank to repaint it had allowed all the paint chips containing lead to remain on the ground. This was a fascinating story to hear. I could have listened to him a hundred times, for his wisdom shone, and his speaking abilities captured the audience.
Veterinarians amaze me with their knowledge and skill. Jim amazes me because he is just Jim, the best friend one could ever have.
The weather was so miserable during our short time in Buffalo that all we did between his speeches and being awed by the falls was buy some Buffalo playing cards at the hotel gift shop and play multiple card games in bed. We played many games of Go Fish and had a frivolous time.
The food provided was always a huge buffet, one of those all-you-can-eat festivities, so we stuffed ourselves, even though we may not have wanted to.
Jim would say, ‘Well, it’s time to go down to the feed trough,’ and we tried to walk in the dining room without cracking up. Just before getting on the elevator to go down to dinner, with his precise timing, Jim would snort like a pig and say, ‘We are going down to the feed trough.’
I often laughed so hard that I hoped no one else would get in the elevator, but of course someone did, and I just had to continue my chortle and be stared at. I could not help it. Walking into the dining room was always a real effort of discipline for me for I was trying to act proper, but I found it hard when chuckling and snickering. On numerous occasions, a fellow vet would come and sit with us, and it was all I could do to not fall apart with laughter. One day at lunch, I was laughing so much that Jim had to carry my plate full of food to the table.
Oh, what an amazing man God gifted the world with.
What a blissful thing this was–to have a best friend as a husband and to laugh at and with each other. What a love trip.
Heartrending Pastor’s Anniversary Remembrance
E-mail received from Pastor Chris Becker on August 26, 2012 – (In Honor of my marriage to Dr. James A. Kennedy)/photos added by me
“Hello Barb.
Thanks so much for writing to me yesterday. Doing well here, although very, very busy. We as a church had our big annual ‘Block Party’ yesterday. It appeared to be a grand success, with over 200 people from our community in attendance, not including the many members of our church family who pitched in last evening.
I realize today marks the anniversary of your wedding, and I’m sure it has been a very difficult day. It is with great fondness that I remember marrying you & Jim, the very simple but beautiful ceremony that took place at the church building. I also, with deep sadness, remember the challenged & tragedies that transpired only weeks and months after that joyous occasion, most notably Jim’s death on New Year’s Eve day. I feel badly for the tremendous pain you have experienced, Barb, and even months later, I still lack a great deal of answers for how things transpired. Only God knows, and I fully trust His purposes & plans, but sometimes that doesn’t make it much easier. My heart continues to go out to you in your loss, Barb.
Jim is sorely missed by me, by our church family, by our Ark Valley community, by everyone who knew him. There are still days when I think of Jim’s passing and I contemplate to myself, ‘What if he were still here?’ Still, undoubtedly, he is missed most of all by you, Barb, by the one who deeply cherished & loved him. I encourage you to hold on to the positive memories and continue to be grateful & in awe of the very precious & incredible season of life God gave you with Jim. You are absolutely right: HE WAS A GREAT GUY! 
And his love for you was very evident. I know thinking about that doesn’t take away the pain. In fact, in some ways it probably increases it. Still, I do believe some consolation can often be found in taking delight in the opportunities & privileges we have had in this life experience. God has been very good to you, Barb. Probably sometimes hard to fully appreciate, since you’ve been through so much tragedy & pain over the past several months. Still, He has been very good. He gave you Jim and all the joy & ecstasy that went along with him, granted only for a few months, but nonetheless granted to you personally & marvelously. Again, hang on to that! You have had the privilege of being loved & adored by a wonderful man in a way that many women only dream of. May our great God continue to be your sustenance, strength and comfort.
Thank you again, Barb, for the many kindnesses you have personally shown to Jennifer & I over the past year. We are thankful God has seen fit for you to be part of our lives … As to coming back to R. F., of course you are welcome any time. Just let me know.
I have been extremely honored, and continue to be honored, to be the ‘Kennedy Pastor.’ Your words of appreciation mean a great deal to me and I treasure them in my heart. It has been a blessing to hear from you again, Barb. Our thoughts & prayers are with you, dear one.
Chris”
A CARD OF GOLD FROM A MAN OF GOLD
“Birthday Surprise” p. 257-258 My Cowboy Knight, My Boaz
October 15, 2011
Jim Kennedy changed my life by being an amazing husband and example of Christ.
He was the epitome of kindness and humility.
He listened, took me out on dates, never lied, surprised me with loving and thoughtful gifts, was my best friend, never argued, was never self-seeking, was always gentle, made me laugh many times every day, put me first, prayed for us every day, wrote me love letters, tended to my wounds, solved all problems, pursued Christ and loved me unconditionally! His agape love drew me to him like a magnet. I give thanks for my time with him on this earth.
“Holy God, I thank you for all the precious, happy memories with my loved one. My tears overflow when I think of how much love I have for this dear person. Thank you for blessing me with my loved one, and thank you for giving me an even greater blessing that lasts for eternity: the gift of life through Your Son Jesus.”
GriefShare Surviving the Holidays
Holiday Devotions
Chapter 1: Knowing What to Expect p. 6
My Venerated Veterinarian and Veteran
James “Doc” A. Kennedy DVM, MS (November 1, 1947 – December 31, 2011)
“I have to make people realize how totally helpless animals are, how dependent on us, trusting as a child must that we will be kind and take care of their needs. They are an obligation put on us, a responsibility we have no right to neglect, nor to violate by cruelty.” ~James Herriott (Scottish veterinarian and writer 1916-1995)
“You can judge a man’s true character by the way he treats his fellow animals.” ~Paul McCartney
VETERINARIAN OF THE YEAR 2007
“Personally, I have always felt that the best doctor in the world is a veterinarian. He can't ask his patient what's the matter. He's just got to know." ~Will Rogers
“Happiness is a warm puppy.” ~Charles M. Shulz
“A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!” ~Shakespeare
“The average dog is a nicer person than the average person.” ~Andrew A. Rooney
~I will always love James A. Kennedy, DVM, MS and loving husband. ~ Barbara A. Kennedy
BEST Love Letter EVER Written?
I do believe this love letter could be the most superior love “communication” ever composed! Yes, ever! If you dare, be drawn into every word and it’s power and mental magnetism, and I believe you will agree. Barbara A. Kennedy
In honor of Dr. James A. Kennedy
“The First Love Letter”
p. 123 My Cowboy Knight, My Boaz (Sun Jul 31, 2011 6:11 PM)
“Dearest Barbara Ann
Jim and Barbara
Neither of us understands why we have become so attracted to each other. For me it started with a softly spoken word and a tenderly written phrase. From this small beginning, that small spark, a flame has been kindled, and now an all-consuming fire fills my heart and wrestles with my thoughts. Each moment of each day is filled with you, I read your words over and over and each time they bring me joy, they are filled with the beauty of you. I savor your fragrance, when I hold you close and breathe in that which is you all my body tingles with the passion I feel for you, and when we part the aroma lingers reminding me of the pleasure you have given me by just letting me be close to you, to hold you, to caress you, and to kiss you. The ecstasy racing through my body when our lips touch, and I feel your breath on my face sends shivers to my core, what this man has found in you is rare, it is more valuable than precious metals or gems, it is why God gave man a partner it is the essence of love, an intoxicating drug that simultaneously numbs and stimulates, it causes us to melt away into each others arms with open trust knowing that together we become one and nothing can come between what God has designed. I want to be with you forever, I want you at my side; I want to cross the bridge to Heaven holding your hand. I have never said these things to any woman before these are new experiences for me and I pray that you someday will feel the same surging passions that are running through my veins. There can be nothing wrong with how we feel it has been and continues to be God’s design, so lets take the path He has laid before us enjoy the journey and arrive in each arms at His Feet knowing through the journey that He is with us.
I Love You,
Jim”
And this is still for me, as it was for Jim, all for the glory of God.
THE FORETASTE
What was the foretaste I was blessed with from Dr. Jim Kennedy?
(my yearling “Gracie”/AQHA “Pattis Belle”)
Could I have received a foretaste of heaven? Could I have experienced a foretaste of the love of Christ? The Bible parallels a husband’s love for his wife and that of Christ’s love for the church. Jim was not perfect, but he did represent the church, the body of Christ on earth. He put Christ first, then me, his wife. He showed purity and holiness. He worshipped the Lord. He was disciplined and confessed his sin. We fellowshipped at church and he defended the truth of the gospel.
Jim exemplified a humble, positive, all-provisional, all-consuming love that only after his death, I can clearly see his example of Christ.
“Who is he who will devote himself to be close to me?” ‘declares the Lord.’ “So you will be my people and I will be your God.” Jeremiah 30: 21-22.
Jim had been crushed with the death of his longtime wife before meeting me, but still chose to go on and open his heart to love again and bring us both closer to God. He kept believing even when it did not make sense.
Married to “my Boaz”, I experienced friendship, goodness, gentleness, safety, acceptance, peace, rest, provision, patience, comfort, correction, compassion, love, joy, trust, truth, mercy, kindness and humility. He often reminded me, “Attitude determines altitude.” Jesus’ life was the definition of humility. Jim was one of the most humble and comforting people I will ever know. As Ruth said to Boaz in the Bible, “You have comforted me by speaking so kindly to me.” Ruth 2:13.
One of our favorite songs was “When Love Finds You” by Vince Gill. We listened to it almost every night going to sleep. (p. 179). There were many nights we both shed tears listening to this song.
“Love is the power that makes your heart beat
It can make you move mountains, make you drop to your knees
When it finally hits you, you won’t know what to do
There is nothin’ you can say, when love finds you.”
Jim and I often just looked into each other’s eyes, reading each other’s souls with only a few words or sometimes silence. (p. 260).
I could never believe what intensity of love Jim and I had for each other. I now understand Jim’s love was a sampling of what Christ’s love is for me and the whole world. All our love was an expression to me of God’s love in a way I had never known before or since. I believe God used Jim for me to see this. Even in such a short time, I was changed forever. I had a foretaste of heaven and of the love of Jesus Christ and God the Father.
“I have loved you, my people with an everlasting love, with unfailing love I have drawn you to Myself.” Jeremiah 31:3.
I see Jim’s example of a “Christ-follower” as deepening my faith in the one true God. Thank you, Father Almighty, for sending your Son Jesus and thank you for allowing me the foretaste of this love through a man named, Dr. James A. Kennedy. 
Good-Bye 2016 Welcome 2017 “Sunrise Sunset”
Today I honor my late husband, Dr. Jim Kennedy’s entrance into heaven, December 31, 2011. Happy Anniversary Jim!
“Sunrise Sunset”
“Swiftly fly the years
One season following another
Laden with happiness and tears.”
“From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same Jehovah’s name is to be praised.” Psalm 113:3
“To escape loneliness and despair, you must take action and reach out to others, and you will experience the light of hope rising up in your life.” (GriefShare)
“If you give yourself to the hungry, and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light will rise in darkness, and your gloom will become like midday.” (Isaiah 58:10 NASB)
MAY 2017 BE BLESSED FOR YOU ALL FROM GOD ABOVE.
