Jessie Kennedy Raines, a former Anne Arundel County elementary school teacher, died Thursday of kidney failure at Wythe County Community Hospital in Wytheville, Va. She was 87.

Born Jessie Kennedy near Gate City, Va., Mrs. Raines was the 10th of 11 children. She attended a state college in Tennessee and began her teaching career there in the 1930s.

Soon after, she met her husband, Joseph Lee Raines. The couple married in the late 1930s.

The couple moved to Maryland, where Mr. Raines found work during World War II with the U.S. Coast Guard. After the war, Mrs. Raines started teaching for Anne Arundel County. She retired in the mid-1970s.

"She really loved children and loved teaching," said her daughter, Beth Caskey of Glade Spring, Va. "One of the things that gave her the most pleasure was teaching children to read."

She spent the last part of her life living in Brooklyn Park before returning to Virginia about three years ago.

Her husband died in 1966.

Services will be held at 3 p.m. today at Forest Hills Memory Gardens, 19415 Lee Highway, Abingdon, Va.

In addition to her daughter, Mrs. Raines is survived by a sister, Grace Kennedy Wesley of Tucson, Ariz., and two granddaughters. Donations may be sent to the Children's Ministries of Abingdon Bible Church, P.O. Box 843, Abingdon, Va. 24212.