Walda Kennedy Stewart was born on May 31, 1951, to Walter and Wilma Kennedy in Darnell Army Hospital in Killeen, Texas. Being an only child, Walda grew up in Rome, New York. She and her mother moved to Waco, Texas when she was 7 years old.
Walda attended Waco Independent School District, attending R.L. Smith Elementary, G.L. Wiley Junior High where she played the clarinet, and Waco High School where she was the first Black tennis player. She later attended McLennan Community College and graduated with an associate’s degree in Mental Health.
Walda married Donald Crain and to this union were born Cory Crain and Angela Crain who lived in Houston, Texas. Later she would move back to Waco and add two new additions to her single-family household, Brandon McGruder and Dominque McGruder. She supported her family by working at General Tire Rubber Plant until they closed.
Her walk with God began at an early age when she joined Toliver Chapel Missionary Baptist Church, where she was baptized by the late Pastor O. L. Hegman. Following her mother Wilma Wilkins, her grandmother Nancy Long, uncle Andrew Wilkins and aunt Erma Webster she attended Sunday School.
In 1990, she married long-time friend and associate minister of Toliver Chapel Missionary Baptist Church, Rev. George Lewis Stewart. She helped her husband labor in outreach ministry at the Sherman Manor Apartments in Waco, Texas. Walda assisted her husband in several ways including, picking the children up for church, teaching them about God and Jesus Christ, and baptisms. Her Godly love for people and children was the driving force for servitude. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will reward Walda Kennedy-Stewart for her labor. Only what you do for Christ will last.
She was preceded in death by her mother, Wilma Daniels, and her father, Walter Kennedy.
She leaves to cherish her memories: her husband who loved her very much, Rev. George Lewis Stewart; sons, Cory Crain and Brandon McGruder; daughters, Angela Ridge and Dominique McGruder; 12 grandchildren, 5 great-grandchildren, and a host of other relatives and friends who loved her.
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