James Edward Kinney

James (Jim) Edward Kinney was born on December 18, 1936, in Detroit, Michigan, the oldest child of his parents the late Frank and Mary Ray Kinney. He accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Savior in his teens. He was educated in the Detroit Public School system and upon graduating from Sidney D. Miller High School, he enlisted in the United States Air Force and proudly served as a A/C Electronic Navigation Repairman.

Near the end of his military service, he met and married the late Ann Chandler and to this union three daughters were born: Lisa, Lynn, and Leslie. James had a varied work career that included working for the United States Postal Service, Franklin County Deputy Sheriff’s Office, COTA (Central Ohio Transportation Authority) and XEROX corporation. In 1989, he married Diane Williamson-Anderson and they
moved to Norwalk Connecticut. In wanting to spend more time with family and friends, they moved back to Columbus in 2010. They were married for 27 years until the time of her passing in 2016. The simplest pleasures in life brought great joy to James. He had a love of owls and amassed quite an extensive collection of them. He was passionate about his football. When NFL and College football season was in full swing you could find him on any given Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Thursday sitting in his recliner, glued to TV watching a game. He enjoyed a good book, good food, loved Jazz, action movies,
westerns, and mystery and crime television shows. James had a wicked dry sense of humor. With his jokes, his sayings, and his storytelling, it would at times leave you shaking your head at him or other times just laughing with him. He would often quote you passages from his favorite poem ‘Invictus’ to encourage and uplift you.

He was fiercely independent, proud, and meticulous in how he dressed. You could not help but not take notice of him. With his personal sense of style, tall frame, smooth deep voice, and swagger, he epitomized what being cool was. His daughters lovingly nicknamed him ‘Joe Cool’. He was fiercely protective of his family and a loyal friend. James may not have been a warm and fuzzy type of guy, but you knew in his way that he loved you. James battled cancer for 19 years and after a long hard-fought battle with the disease, on August 9, 2022, he passed peacefully at home. James is predeceased by wife Diane Anderson-Kinney, parents Frank and Mary Kinney, brother Alvin Kinney and sister Rosemary Kinney.
He leaves to cherish his memory, daughter’s Lisa Kinney, Lynn (Wayne Radford) Kinney, Leslie Stanford, son-in-law Henry Stanford, grandsons Warrick Stanford and Jerrick Stanford, sisters Patricia Kinney and Sharon Starling, a host of nieces and nephews and dear friend Elizabeth Murphy. The race is not given to the swift or to the strong but to the one who endures to the end. ~~~ Ecclesiastes 9:11

Visitation 10:00 AM and Funeral Service 11:00 AM Wednesday, August 17, 2022 at MARLAN J. GARY FUNERAL HOME, THE CHAPEL OF PEACE EAST, 5456 E. Livingston Ave. (one block east of Noe Bixby, turn North on Lonsdale Rd.).

Interment at Green Lawn Cemetery.