Bud's Life:

1944 – Born to Joseph Kennedy and Freda Martin I lived in Devenish until about 4 years of age. Moved to St. James which was just 4 miles down the road. I am one of seven children having 4 sisters and 2 brothers. In order of arrival. – Kathleen 1942, John 1943, Andrew (Me) 1944, Elizabeth 1945, Helen 1946, Phil 1950 and Marie 1953. We lived in a shop in St. James which Mum ran while Dad managed his Aunts' farm which was on the edge of the town.

Started school in 1949 - Really enjoyed school at St. James. Miss Mylon was the infant mistress and Bob Hollow the Headmaster. He was a very laid back teacher but taught us all sorts of interesting things. He gave us confidence in our work. While in Grade5 I Saw the Queen when she visited Benalla in 1954

Off to Benalla High school in 1956. Attended Olympic Games in Melbourne during my first year at secondary school. Went to Tasmania on a School trip in 1961. Travelled to school by bus. Caught it about 7.30am and arrived home about 5.30pm. Had to milk 2 cows by hand before and after School.

After failing Form 5 (Leaving Certificate) I applied for and got a job with the Railways in Benalla. However after thinking about it I decided to go back to school to repeat the 3 subjects I missed out on and studied 2 new ones. I did better this year and ended up with 8 leaving subjects. With these I managed to get a Studentship in Teaching at the Teachers' College in Bendigo. I had a great time at College and after 2 years training it was thought that I was ready to teach. I was sent to a one teacher school at Deletite just south of Mansfield. The school enrolment was only 13 children but we still managed to win the district sports in 1964. While teaching here I met a young trainee teacher called Margaret Kuhle who I later married in 1969.

In 1965 I appointed to Stewarton PS with an enrolment of 17. I remained here for 4 years and for the most part lived at home (17miles away) and helped on the farm after school and at weekends and holidays. Enjoyed that time in my life. Also won the District sports here in my first year.

In 1969 I moved to Toolern Vale in charge of a 2 teacher school. During this time I married Margaret Kuhle and in 1970 we moved to Echuca to live while I was headmaster of the Echuca West P.S. We remained in Echuca for 4 years and both our boys were born there. David the eldest now lives in Cairns and Jamie is the Chef at the Cohuna Hotel.

While in Echuca I joined the Apex Club and enjoyed the fellowship of the Club. It is a great family oriented organization. I continued with Apex in Tongala and was awarded Life Membership in 1984. This was a great honour. In Jan 1974 we moved to Tongala as I had received a promotion to the Consolidated school there. I really enjoyed my time at Tongala and stayed there, getting promotion a couple of times in school and ended up as the Assistant Principal there in 1994. In all I spent 26 years at Tongala P.S. and finished up in August 1999. In 1998 we moved back to Echuca as Marg was still teaching at St. Joseph's College and she was keen to retire in Echuca. After resigning from the Education Department in August 1999 I worked part time at St. Joseph's looking after their computer network and teaching computer studies to year 7. This job grew to the stage where it needed a full time person, and as I was not keen to work full time I gave it up.