Palestine High School Alumni Association

03 / 12 / 1913  –  11 / 13 / 1989

Services for Ben Kelly, 76, of Palestine, will be at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at First Christian Church with the Revs. Charles Kincaid, Donovan Ben Kelly and Otis Felton officiating. Burial will be at East Hill Cemetery under the direction of Bailey & Foster Funeral Home.

Mr. Kelly died this morning at a local nursing home.

He was born in Palestine on March 12, 1913, a son of John Edward and Voce Hamilton Kelly.

He owned and operated Kelly’s Grocery and Market since 1929. He was a member of First Christian Church, and song leader of the Men’s Bible Class for 34 years. He was a member of the Palestine Men’s Garden Club and a charter member of the Palestine Jaycees, of which he was president in 1944.

He was preceded in death by his brothers, George Edward Kelly and Jack Marlow Kelly.

He is survived by his daughter, Nancy Kelly Cook of Dallas; a son, Don Marlow Kelly of Dallas; sisters, Vada Meehan of Houston, Lucille Franquero of Cottonwood, Ariz., Mary Watson of Houma, La., and Sister Mary Margaret of Guatamala; two granddaughters and three grandsons.

Pallbearers will be grandsons, Stanley Hunter Cook, Jeffery Hamilton Cook and the Rev. Donovan Ben Kelly, and Michael Everett Crossland, Ralph Wynn, Hal O’Neal, Stanley Walton, T.B. Bailey Jr., Lacey Adams and Guy Thompkins.

Condolence calls will be received from 7 tp 9 p.m. Tuesday at the funeral home. The family requests that memorial contributions be made to First Christian Church or to cancer research.

Source: Palestine Herald-Press 00-00-19**