In Loving Memory of Carol Lee Kennedy
August 29, 1944 – 2024
A Mother, Mentor, Pioneer, and Cornerstone of KCA Wealth Management
The story of KCA Wealth Management would not be complete without the story of Carol Lee Kennedy.
Born Carol Lee Pedrick on August 29, 1944, Carol grew up as one of 13 children in a row home in Philadelphia. Her family did not have much, and by approximately the 10th grade, Carol left Catholic school and went to work to help support her family. She never had the opportunity to complete high school in the traditional way, but that would never define what she was capable of accomplishing.
Carol later married Charles Kennedy, and the two eventually moved to Hershey, Pennsylvania, after Charles, a salesman for Conley Containers, secured the Hershey Foods account. They built a life and family together in Central Pennsylvania.
When Charles passed away, Carol suddenly found herself having to reinvent her life. And that is exactly what she did.
She earned her GED and continued her education through Dale Carnegie training, beginning a remarkable professional journey at a time when opportunities for women—particularly women without traditional educational backgrounds—were far more limited than they are today.
Carol worked as a dental assistant before moving into administrative and professional roles, including positions with the Federal Aviation Administration and other government-related work. At one point, she helped train Kuwaitis in the use of computers, years before Kuwait would become a familiar name to most Americans through world events.
Her career continued to evolve. She worked at Rite Aid as an administrative assistant to the top executives and later used her creativity and natural eye for design to help design and furnish nursing home facilities and their living spaces, selecting everything from furniture and window treatments to décor.
But one of the most important chapters of Carol's professional life was still ahead.
Helping Build What Would Become KCA Wealth Management
Carol eventually joined her son, Brian Kennedy, and became an integral part of the financial practice that would ultimately grow into KCA Wealth Management.
She wasn't simply helping her son at the office. She became a licensed financial-services professional herself.
In her late 40s and early 50s, at an age when many people would have been reluctant to begin an entirely new career, Carol studied for and passed securities and insurance licensing examinations. For someone who had been forced to leave school as a teenager to help support her family, earning those professional licenses decades later was a tremendous personal accomplishment—and a perfect example of who Carol was.
She became a cornerstone of the practice.
Carol helped manage the office, coordinate client appointments, support operations, and care for the families the practice served. She brought organization and dedication to the business, but more importantly, she brought something that cannot be taught: the ability to make people feel welcome and cared for.
Many of the values that remain important to KCA Wealth today—the importance of family, relationships, perseverance, hard work, and genuinely caring about the people we serve—were embodied by Carol long before they were ever part of a company philosophy.
More Than Her Career
As accomplished as Carol was professionally, work was only a small part of who she was.
Carol loved to sing. She loved to dance. She was an amazing cook. And she had the kind of personality that could change the energy of a room simply by walking into it.
She loved her family deeply and lived her life with tremendous strength, determination, humor, and heart.
At approximately 65 years old, Carol was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease. She would battle the disease for more than 12 years.
And battle is the appropriate word.
Carol was a fighter.
The same woman who went to work as a teenager to help her family, rebuilt her life after losing her husband, earned her GED as an adult, repeatedly reinvented herself professionally, and passed securities and insurance examinations later in life faced Alzheimer's with that same strength.
She never stopped fighting.
Her Legacy
Carol leaves behind a family who loved her dearly, including her son, Brian Kennedy, her daughter-in-law, Kim Kennedy, and her grandson Caelan Brian Kennedy.
But her legacy extends beyond her family.
It lives within KCA Wealth Management.
The company that exists today was built on a foundation that Carol helped create. Her fingerprints are on its history, its culture, and its values. The lessons she taught through the way she lived her life continue to influence how we approach our work and how we care for the families who place their trust in us.
Carol's life is a reminder that where someone begins does not determine where they can go.
A young girl from a family of 13 children who left school in the 10th grade went on to earn her GED, build multiple careers, obtain professional securities and insurance licenses, help establish a financial-services practice, raise a family, overcome tremendous loss, and inspire the generations who followed her.
KCA Wealth Management would not be what it is today without Carol Lee Kennedy.
We are forever grateful for what she built, what she taught us, and most importantly, for who she was.
Her strength helped build our foundation. Her values remain part of who we are. And her legacy will always be part of KCA Wealth Management.