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Even so, he rasped out, "How's Mitzi?

" He was asking about his visitor's old dog which had been through several surgeries.

Ask people who knew Kenney, and you'll hear stories of how he was always asking about your children or your grandkids.

He practiced a one-on-one style of community police work that friends said was a simple and beautiful expression of the kind of man he was.

"Every day of his life was a form of community service," said Julia Perez-Kennedy, who met him in 1979 when they were neighbors on Lopez Street.

"I really loved him.

I am so sad he won't be with us anymore." Cambridge residents and police officers turned out in force this week for his wake and funeral Mass.

The nonsmoking Kenney died last Thursday of a rapidly moving cancer.

An estimated 240 police officers attended his funeral service in Milton on Tuesday.

Sgt.

Kathleen Murphy, his 1983 police academy classmate, delivered the eulogy.

"He had these amazing eyes.

He communicated everything with his eyes," she said.

Several people close to Kenney remarked on his ability to create calm by his very presence.

"We would go to a meeting, and John would just be there and never say anything," said Lt.

John Sheehan, a close friend.

"And people would say afterward, 'Boy, that Lt.

Kenney is just terrific.' He talked to people one-on-one before and afterwards; it was that effect he had one-on-one.

He was unique.

He is going to be missed." May...

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