Bobby R. Kelley

Bobby R. Kelley

Bobby R. Kelley

1925-2015

Bobby R. Kelley, rural Pickering, passed away peacefully Sunday, December 6, 2015 at St. Francis Hospital, Maryville. He was 90.

Born on May 12, 1925 on a farm near Siam, Iowa, he was the youngest child of Guy and Mayme Kelley. His family moved to Nodaway County when he was two years old. He attended North Prairie Elementary School near Elmo.

Following graduation from Elmo High School, he joined the Army in 1944, serving in the Philippines and Japan in World War II. Kelley returned home and, after a brief stint as a surveyor, took advantage of the GI Bill to enroll at Northwest Missouri State College, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Education in 1952.

While at Northwest, Bobby met a fellow education student, Shirley Alden. They married at Chillicothe on April 12, 1952. Following graduation, Mr. Kelley began a 34 year career in education in northwest Missouri. His first teaching assignment was as a math and industrial arts teacher at Gallatin High School. With a desire to move into administration, Kelley returned to school during his summers, earning a graduate degree from the University of Northern Colorado at Greeley.

After completing graduate school, Mr. Kelley first served as principal at Stanberry High School in 1954, and two years later returned to Gallatin as high school principal. In 1962 he returned to Nodaway County as superintendent of the Graham School District, where two years later he guided the reorganization to consolidate the Graham, Maitland, and Skidmore schools, becoming the first superintendent of the Nodaway-Holt R-VII District. In 1971 he became the superintendent at Maysville R-I. From 1975 until his retirement in 1986, he was superintendent of the North Nodaway R-VI Schools, where his leadership restored the district to solid educational and fiscal footing.

Upon retirement from education, he returned to his roots, purchasing farmland near Hopkins, which he continued until recent years. Even if no longer able to be on the tractor, Mr. Kelley could still be found many days watching over the crops with his son and grandson.

Mr. Kelley was a long time member and past president of thePickering Lions Club. He was also a member of the Missouri State Teachers Association. An avid NWMSU football and basketball fan, he was a long-time member of the Bearcat Booster Club, attending many home and away athletic contests.

Married for 63 years, Mr. Kelley is survived by his wife, Shirley; children, Janet (Dell) Epperson, Columbia, Missouri; Roger Kelley, Liberty, Missouri, and Keith (Michele) Kelley, grandchildren, Sam and Paige, all of Conception Junction, as well as numerous nieces and nephews. Mr. Kelley was preceded in death by his parents, two brothers, Dale and Lee, and one sister, Eileen Stevenson.

Memorials in lieu of flowers may be made to the Pickering United Methodist Church, 301 S. Coleman St., Pickering, MO 64476, or the Bobby and Shirley Kelley Scholarship in care of the Northwest Missouri State University Foundation, 800 University Drive, Maryville MO 64468.

Visitation will be 1-2:00PM, Wednesday December 9, 2015, followed by funeral services at 2:00 p.m. at Price Funeral Home, Maryville. Interment follows at Braddyville, Iowa, Cemetery.