TRIBUTE has been paid to a Keighley priest who has died aged 86.

Father Jack Kennedy was part of a large extended family, well-known within the town’s Catholic community.

He was born in Keighley and educated at St Joseph’s and St Anne’s schools in the town.

On leaving school, at the age of 15, he worked as a wool sorter at an Ingrow mill.

He completed national service between 1952-54, training as a radar operator.

It was in 1956 that he decided to pursue his vocation to the religious life, when he joined the Monfort Missionaries. He remained with them for 12 years, but didn’t proceed to priestly ordination.

Instead he returned to Yorkshire and worked in the building trade, until ­– in 1983 – he was accepted as a student for the Leeds diocese by Bishop Wheeler and entered the Beda College in Rome.

Father Kennedy was ordained at St Anne’s Church, Keighley, in September, 1987.

The following month he became assistant priest at St Anthony’s, Beeston, where he stayed for three years. Subsequently he served in the same capacity at St Anne’s Cathedral, SS Peter & Paul in Yeadon and St Mary’s, Halifax.

In 1995 he was appointed parish priest of St Joseph & St Thomas, Goole, and six years later moved to St Brendan’s parish at Greengates.

He retired from active ministry in 2006 and returned to Keighley, where he remained until his death at Herncliffe Nursing Home.

For some years after his ordination Father Kennedy had assisted at the diocesan finance and property office in Leeds, where he was a popular figure.

“He cycled from home to the office most days – Lycra clad and in true Kennedy fashion!” said a diocesan spokesman.

“At other times – notably on his day off and during holidays – he opted for a different mode of transport, keeping a narrowboat moored at Apperley Bridge on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.

“Father Kennedy was a down-to-earth character, reflecting his roots in industrial West Yorkshire and in the Catholic community of Keighley.

“His was a late vocation but the realisation of his calling enabled him to serve, with a straightforward dedication, the bishops and people of the Diocese of Leeds for more than 30 years.”