F. Kenneth Dempsey

May 16, 1906 - Apr 25, 1973

Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday in Christ the King Catholic Church for former Mayor and Superior Court Judge F. Kenneth Dempsey, who died in St. Joseph's Hospital at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, He was 66 years old.

He had served as judge for 18 years prior to his retirement in January. Dempsey was admitted to the hospital's care unit about 1:30 a.m. Friday after suffering a heart attack in his home, 532800 Ridgewood Dr. He was transferred to the coronary care unit on Saturday. He is survived by his widow, Grace, and six children.

He was elected to the Superior Court bench in 1954 and assumed his judgeship in January, 1955. During his career as judge, he was credited with being the moving force behind the development of the multiple-judge court system adopted in the county in 1965. The system replaced two autonomous courts with a single court comprised of three divisions. The system has since been expanded to five divisions but retains the principle of dividing the caseload between the judges so as to provide more efficient service.

Dempsey became mayor in May, 1945, when former Mayor Jesse I. Pavey resigned. Dempsey led the city through the difficult post-war adjustment period, perhaps his most pressing problem as mayor. It was during his tenure that plans were made and contracts drawn for the city's sewage treatment plant. He did not seek re-election, and instead returned to his private law practice. After his retirement in January, Judge Dempsey recalled that he decided to re-enter politics because becoming a judge was "something I had always wanted to do."

Judge and Mrs. Dempsey returned recently from a vacation in Spain, and he was honored last Thursday night at a retirement dinner's sponsored by the St. Joseph County Bar Assn. He became ill only hours after returning home from the banquet. Dempsey was born in South Bend on May 16, 1906, and was a lifelong St. Joseph County resident.

He graduated from the former South Bend Central High School in 1924, and received his law degree from Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., in 1931. While at Georgetown, he worked for almost two years as a reporter for the former United States Daily, a Washington paper devoted to government news. Dempsey's duties included covering the U.S. Supreme Court and courts 1 in the District of Columbia.

He married Grace A. McLaughlin on June 28, 1932, in Chicago. She survives, along with four daughters, Mrs. Sheila Emge and Mrs. Patricia Kinyon, both of South Bend, Mrs. Susan Donahue of Valparaiso, and Mrs. Mary Ellen Kettelkamp of Denver; two sons. F. Kenneth Jr. of Lombard, Ill., and J. Dennis of Bedford Heights, Ohio; and 10 grandchildren.

He was a member of the St. Joseph County Bar Assn., the Indiana State Bar Assn., and the American Bar Assn. Rev. Stanley Rdzok, C.S.C., pastor of Christ the King Church, will officiate at the funeral service. Burial will be in St. Joseph Valley Memorial Park. Friends may call from 7: to 9 p.m. today and from 2 to 9 p.m. Friday at the McGann Funeral Home, where a wake service will be held at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

Memorial contributions may be made to the St. Joseph Hospital Development Fund or to the Christ Child Society.

Article from 26 Apr 1973 The South Bend Tribune (South Bend, IN)

Sources: Ancestry.com, Newspapers.com and FindAGrave.com

03/03/2026 EJS

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/97053719/francis-kenneth-dempsey