HAUNTED LAWRENCE

Kennedy Elementary School, situated west of the Douglas County
Fairgrounds, was established under the name Southeast Elementary in
January 1961. However, within a few months, the school board decided to
rechristen the facility in honor of Opal Jayne Kennedy, a long-serving and
much-loved Lawrence teacher who had just retired. Many in the community
could think of no one more worthy of such an honor.
Kennedy was a devoted teacher and, by the time of her retirement, had
served fifty years in the Lawrence School District, spending forty-two of
them as a principal. In 1962, she was named “Lawrence Woman of Year”
by the Jaycee Jaynes organization (a female-only branch of the United
States Junior Chamber). According to Carl Knox, the superintendent of
the Lawrence School District in 1982, Kennedy was “revered by the people
who worked with her, [and]…her efforts and activities on behalf of the
local public schools continued” up until her death on December 31, 1981.
Opal Kennedy was particularly proud that her name had been given to
an area school, and in 1974, she said, “Now that was the greatest honor
that has ever come to me, and I spent many hours and many, many times
at that school. There are always very happy, happy conditions.” Perhaps
her attachment to the school might explain the stories contending that
Opal Kennedy is still offering a helping hand. According to Julia Thomas,
a gifted facilitator currently working in the Lawrence School District:
H AUNTED L AWRENCE
73
It was probably 1986, and I was working as a Title I math instructor
at Kennedy School. I had forgotten something at the school on a weekend,
and so I went back into the building to get the things that I had left in my
desk. When I got to the school, there weren’t any [children or teachers]
there. While I was in the room that I used—which was a storage room
behind the stage—I heard a movement in the hall, so I peeked around the
corner. The whole building was dark, but I saw a shadow and I heard
a rustling—there was definitely movement in the hall. The halls were
at perpendicular angles, so when I looked around the corner, I could see
something disappear around the corner up ahead. So I went to that corner
and looked, and it happened again at the next hallway intersection. I
assumed it was another teacher in the building, or someone working, but
what was odd is that the person I kept seeing seemed to be wearing a
costume of some sort that was really long, like a dress. At the time, people
didn’t wear long clothes or long coats like what I had seen. Eventually, I
stumbled upon the janitor, and asked him who else was in the building,
and he said that [we] were the only ones there. When I told him that I had
It was at the end of this hallway that Julia Thomas believes she saw the spirit of Opal
Kennedy. Author’s collection.
H AUNTED LAWRENCE
74
seen a person wearing what appeared to be a long dress walking away from
me, he laughed and said, “Oh, that’s just the spirit of Opal Kennedy—she
pops up every now and again!”
In late 2016, some thirty years after these events transpired, Thomas
approached the custodial staff at the school and asked them if they had
had any experiences similar to hers. One janitor revealed that while he had
never had any run-ins with the spirit, several of his former co-workers had.
And to Thomas’s surprise, the circumstances under which they claimed to
have witnessed the apparition were eerily similar to hers.
Since Opal Kennedy was a dutiful and beloved educator in life, who truly
loved and appreciated her namesake school, perhaps she is still roaming the
halls, looking out for both students and teachers alike.
Kennedy Elementary School is located at 1605 Davis Road, just west of
the Douglas County Fairgrounds. Because it is a public school, the building
is closed off to random visitors. As such, attempting to enter the building
without permission is highly discouraged.