FOXBORO -- One day after Irene Kennedy's murderer was convicted, her widower, Tom Kennedy, and daughter, Susan, returned Thursday to the scene of the crime at Walpole's Bird Park, where they laid fresh flowers.

Except for that sentimental gesture, there was nothing unusual in their morning stroll through the park with the family's 9-year-old Chihuahua, Chico.

`` We go over there quite a bit, so it wasn't any better or special,'' Tom Kennedy said. `` There's no reason why not. She's still in our minds. There's no problem going to the park. The little puppy that we have needs to walk.''

Tom and Irene Kennedy were on just such a walk, one they took almost every day, when on Dec. 1, 1998, they took divergent paths, and Irene was killed.

What is different is that almost eight years after the murder, finally there's been some kind of resolution. Martin G. Guy, a prison inmate already serving a life sentence for another murder, was convicted Wednesday in Dedham Superior Court in the slaying of 75-year-old Irene Kennedy.

The conviction was like an immense weight lifted from Tom Kennedy's shoulders.

Now 85, Kennedy sat day in and out through the two-week trial.

`` I feel all right,'' he said. `` I'm glad it's over. I'm so glad it's over.''

It was a trial packed with disturbing evidence and images. Irene Kennedy had been beaten, bitten, strangled and stabbed.

But Tom Kennedy was particularly nagged by one aspect of the proceedings and news coverage that had nothing to do with the crime.

`` They keep calling her `elderly,''' he said. `` I don't think she's elderly. If I had to use a word, it would be `bride.' She was still a bride.''

`` She wasn't an elderly woman. She's still a young woman. She's beautiful.''

Tom and Irene Kennedy, married for 50 years, were almost inseparable.

`` I don't remember a night that passed by that I didn't kiss her. That's how close we were,'' he said. `` She's been missed. There's no question about it.''

Since the murder, Tom Kennedy says he keeps himself busy.

He walks five or six times a week and attends the men's breakfast at the Foxboro Senior Center.

`` Most of the time, I'm cutting the grass, fixing the house, doing this, doing that,'' Kennedy said.

Tom and Irene Kennedy have four daughters: Susan, Kathryn, Nancy and Judy.

Susan Kennedy said Thursday she is `` relieved'' the trial is over.

`` I know it's the right guy,'' she said. `` I'm not relieved that my mom's not still here.''

The lengthy ordeal also has created a family rift, she said.

Although Guy was convicted of the murder, the initial suspect was Edmund Burke, Kathryn's brother-in-law. Burke ultimately was cleared of the crime when his DNA failed to match evidence found on Irene's body.

But, Susan Kennedy said, `` the damage has been done.''

`` Even after (Guy's conviction), some people won't listen,'' she said. `` I don't think the damage can be healed. Holidays will never be the same.''

Tom Kennedy said some people driving by Edmund Burke's house `` yelled `Murderer! Murderer!' right up until (Guy's conviction).''

But Tom Kennedy says he holds no ill will toward Burke.

`` I wish him luck,'' he said. `` We knew a long time ago he wasn't the one.''

Susan Kennedy says walks through Bird Park have changed in a couple of ways since the conviction of her mother's killer.

`` The only difference is we don't have to look at everybody, wondering if he did it,'' she said.

And, she added, `` I'll never walk alone again.''

MICHAEL GELBWASSER can be reached at 508-236-0372 or at mgelbwasser@thesunchronicle.com.