Located at the corner of 5th & Locust Streets in Pana, IL.

D.J. Kennedy established his funeral service in Nokomis in 1903. Most of the equipment used was portable and therefore remained simple to use. At the time, most deaths occurred in the family home, so embalming, visitation, and the funeral service was conducted there.

The first statute for the registration of embalmers was passed in Illinois shortly after 1900. D. J. Kennedy was among the first several hundred to register as a embalmer, having graduated from the Clark College of Mortuary Science in 1903. Later, legislation provided for the issuance of standard Death Records and the registration of Funeral Directors.

In 1908, D.J. Kennedy entered into a partnership with W. Dude of Nokomis, expanding to Shelbyville by 1913, and Pana in 1923. The first site in Pana was located downtown where the Senior Citizens Center once resided.

By the early 1920's, large family homes had begun to disappear. More deaths occurred at the hospital, helping to introduce the concept of the funeral home. D.J. Kennedy filled that need with the move in 1935 to the Gabriel Butts property, at the corner of Fifth & Locust Street as a "Home for Funerals".

D.J. Kennedy and his wife Anna (Hines) ran Kennedy & Sons Funeral Home until 1935; when son Gerald joined the firm, followed by son Raymond in 1941. When Anna died in 1947, followed by D.J. in 1951, Gerald and Raymond took over operation of the firm. In 1982, Raymond's son J. David joined the firm, eventually buying it in 1986. Today, J. David and his wife Tracy continue that 106 year tradition of serving area families.