JAMES LEE KELLY 1942-1996

KELLY

Posted By: Mary Durr (email)
Date: 12/19/2009 at 12:17:26

James Lee Kelly, 54, of Gladstone, Missouri and a former Waukon resident, died at Alpine North Hospice, North Kansas City, Missouri, on Friday, August 2, 1996, of Lymphoma cancer. His body was cremated. Graveside services will be held on Saturday August 17 at 4:00 p.m. at the Oakland Cemetery in Waukon in the Kelly family plot.

Jim was born April 9, 1942 in Iowa City, Iowa. He was adopted in 1944 by Creston "Pringer" and Thelma Kelly. James attended grade schools at Waterville, Ossian and Monona and graduated from the Waukon High School in 1960. He graduated from DeVry Institute in Chicago, Illinois in 1962. After graduation, he started working for the Motorola Company as a communications technical representative. In January 1973, he was sent to Beirut, Lebanon to work for a year with the installation of a two-way communications system for the government of Lebanon. His overseas assignments took him to such other places as South America, South Africa, the Caribbean, and various countries in Europe. In 1980, he became a communications trouble-shooter for the Southern Pacific, Santa Fe, and Burlington Northern Railroads. He retired from Burlington on April 30, 1996 due to his declining health.

James was preceded in death by his parents, Creston and Thelma Kelly. He is survived by his two brothers, Donald Kelly of Nashville, Tennessee, and Forest Kelly and his wife, Evelyn, of Postville, Iowa. He is also survived by 2 nieces and three nephews, 7 great-nieces, 5 great-nephews, and 5 great-great nephews in addition to many other relatives and friends.

Postville Herald newspaper clipping from my mother's obituary collection.
SUBMITTER IS NOT RELATED AND HAS NO FURTHER INFORMATION
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Added by Connie Ellis, April 4, 2011:

Note: Creston Kelly was called "Pinger" and "Ping", not "Pringer".

Additional information about James Lee Kelly:

Jim was born April 9, 1942 in Iowa City, Iowa to Louise Carmela Leach of Bloomfield, Iowa. When Jimmy was about two years old, he was placed in the Annie Wittenmeyer Orphanage in Davenport, Iowa because his loving mother was no longer able to care for her little boy. Charles Stanley "Buddy" and Evelyn Lorraine (Kelly) Fox made plans to adopt Jimmy but in July of 1944 Buddy was seriously injured in a haying accident in which his neck was broken. During the time of his hospitalization, Lorraine's Uncle and Aunt Creston Calvin "Pinger" and Thelma (Garrison) Kelly took care of little Jimmy. On November 29, 1944 Buddy Fox died. Shortly after that the Orphanage in Davenport was going to take Jimmy back but the two older sons of Creston and Thelma asked if they could have him as their brother. Jimmy was adopted in early 1945. After 1986, Jim was able to locate his biological mother and he would frequently visit her in the Davis County Center in Bloomfield, Iowa. Louise Carmela Leach, age 83, died July 1, 2003 at the Davis Center in Bloomfield where she had been a resident since 1944. She was born January 5, 1920 in Bloomfield to Stanley and Jennie (Miller) Leach. She was cremated. She was survived by several cousins.