Local leader was instrumental in getting facility built
Published in the December 23, 2015 – January 5, 2016 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Staff Report
Photo by Mark Fenichel/Fenifoto
Former Morgan Hill Mayor Dennis Kennedy reacts to one of the speakers during the unveiling of the newly renamed Morgan Hill Dennis Kennedy Aquatics Center.
In front of the entrance to the Morgan Hill Aquatics Center, Dennis Kennedy sat wrapped in a blanket and felt the glow of love from his son Matt, friends and leaders of the community. They had come to dedicate the renaming in his honor of the Condit Road competitive pool and water-play facility Kennedy had helped build for the region.
“Back in the mid-1990s when Dennis was serving on the City Council, he had the vision of saying, ‘Let’s not just use the few dollars that we have left in the pool,” Mayor Steve Tate told the crowd of about 60 people. “‘Let’s figure out what the community really wants and build that pool so that we can do those things.’ And that’s why this Aquatics Center is here.”
Tate recalled how on the opening day of the center, all the councilmember jumped into the pool. Kennedy, an expert swimmer, raced with Councilmember Larry Carr, leaving Tate behind “to drown,” he joked.
Kennedy’s drive to make Morgan Hill a better place for everyone pushed the community to build more resources for public benefit including not just the Aquatics Center but also the Community and Cultural Center, the Morgan Hill Library, the Outdoor Sports Center and the Centennial Recreation center.
“All that the community wants was put together… many, many other things that made the city better and better as we moved along,” he said. “It was all due to the vision of Dennis Kennedy.”
Kennedy loved to swim, so the Aquatics Center was on top of his list of priorities, Tate said. “It is just so fitting that we’re able to do this, to rename the Aquatics Center in his honor,” he said. “He has earned it over, and over and over again.”
Santa Clara County Supervisor Mike Wasserman told the crowd that he met Kennedy six years ago and sees him as a “mentor” in his government service.
“I can see sitting down with him, looking into his eyes, the passion, the genuineness that he has for this community,” Wasserman said. “And the fact that we’re naming this facility after him and his passion for swimming and his passion for Morgan Hill and his passion for South County and his passion for Santa Clara County, it’s an absolute honor to be here today, Dennis, just to be able to say thank you for helping me to be a better supervisor, thank you for educating me as to the wonderfulness, if that’s a real word, of Morgan Hill and South County.”
Longtime friend of Jill Kirk praised Kennedy for his passion to make good things happen in Morgan Hill.
“When he was mayor he was concerned about the day-to-day running of the city, but he was a great visionary and looked at what he wanted to bring to Morgan Hill in the long range,” she said. “The Aquatics Center was especially important to him, as it would bring together members of the community, especially children and families.”
Kennedy was an avid swimmer and continued to use the center up until about three months ago when he was diagnosed with a brain tumor, she said.
“What were my feelings at the renaming ceremony? Two things come immediately to mind,” Kirk said. “Great pride and great sadness. I was so happy that he felt well enough to attend the ceremony, which gave so many people a chance to talk to him. I was so touched watching his son, Matt, sit beside his dad and beam with pride as he listened to the speakers extolling the accomplishments of his father. I cannot imagine a Morgan Hill or my life without Dennis Kennedy in it.”
Morgan Hill resident Swanee Edwards met Dennis in 2002 while he was running for his final term as mayor.
“I was really drawn to Dennis’s open, honest style and his genuine love for Morgan Hill,” she said. “It seemed that we all had the same idea at the same time; that by renaming the Aquatics Center after Dennis would be a nearly perfect way to say thank you.”
The City Council had to change city rules to allow the renaming of the center while Dennis is still alive, she said. “To further decorate our thank you was to have Dennis present when we removed the cover on the newly revised sign that reads: The Morgan Hill Dennis Kennedy Aquatics Center.”
