Charles Kelley

KELLEY Charles Kelley, a native of Detroit, Michigan, grew up in Piggott, Arkansas. As a young boy he began working in a local hardware store to help support his family and, then in 1940, he moved to San Antonio, Texas as an office worker with Graham Paper Company. There he met and in 1942 married Doris Weisiger, who was office secretary at the First Baptist Church, San Antonio, TX. Kelley later served in the Army Air Corps as a pilot doing troop transports in the southwest Pacific during World War II. He was among the first of his group to return to the United States near the end of the war due to the point system. He was sent home because he had a wife, a child, and a large number of missions he had flown. Kelley received orders after his leave to report to Hondo, Texas which was near San Antonio. A few months later he was discharged in 1945. He returned to his job at Graham Paper Company in San Antonio. A few months after his second child was born, the Hixson family of Lake Charles, Louisiana invited him to move there to work in their funeral home. They told Kelley they would buy another funeral home if he liked the business and promised to make him the managing partner of that business. They also told him that some day he could buy all of it. They kept their word. Kelley did enjoy the funeral business and the Hixsons made it possible for him to attend Landig College of Mortuary Science in Houston, Texas. He served as treasurer for his class and graduated in 1948. The Hixson Family of Louisiana bought Roberts Undertaking Company in June of 1949. Kelley was then named managing partner. A short time later they bought Pipkin-Brulin Funeral Home, so they were able to merge two of Beaumont's oldest funeral homes. Kelley was then named managing partner of Roberts and Pipkin-Brulin Funeral Home, which became Kelley-Hixson Funeral Home in 1962. By 1965, Kelley became the sole owner of what was then the Golden Triangle's largest single funeral firm, operating an ambulance, including air service, as well. Kelley always showed great ingenuity and creativity in his business. When he and the Hixsons built the new facility, they designed the building to resemble a gracious residence like the other Hixson Funeral Homes in Louisiana. He was a pioneer in advertising for funeral directors. He was one of the first to use color in print ads, and to advertise on television, often appearing in his own TV spots. A funeral director in Beaumont for more than 42 years, Kelley devoted himself to making the hardest of times easier for grieving families. His compassionate, caring manner brought solace to many and earned him the respect of his peers and the gratitude of the residents of the Golden Triangle. During his tenure as manager, then partner, and finally owner, Kelley-Hixson Funeral Home became the leading funeral home in the area. Charles Kelley added to the full-service Funeral Home a cemetery (Haven of Rest), located five miles west of Beaumont at Green Pond Road and U.S. 90, and even a crematorium, the first in that area. Kelley served as President and Treasurer and in other positions of leadership for the Preferred Funeral Directors, International, and served on the Board of Directors of the Funeral Directors and Embalmers of Texas. He received the prestigious Texas Funeral Directors Association Distinguished Service Award for 1983. Kelley always maintained that ""Funeral directors are like ministers. Only the role of a funeral director is not that of a talker, but that of a listener. The function of a funeral director is to provide the time, place, and atmosphere for grieving families and friends to come together and share their grief. . . . We deal with the living. At these times, they're hurting, and we can relieve the hurt by providing good service and care.'' When Kelley retired in 1991, he sold the family business to Frank Watkins, a 23-year veteran of the funeral business. Watkins later sold the business to the Claybar family of Orange, Texas who have continued the tradition of family-operated service. Kelley was active in the Lions' Club, the Beaumont Knife and Fork Club, the Chamber of Commerce, and he served as President of the Marshall Junior High School P. T. A. in Beaumont. He was an active member of the First Baptist Church of First Baptist Church for a half century, during which time he served as chairman of the deacons, Sunday School teacher, and in leadership positions as a member of many committees. Kelley also was one of the founding partners in Wildwood Resort City, located 34 miles north of Beaumont on U.S. 69. Beginning in 1963, the partners developed 1,800 acres of woodland and built a man-made lake. They sold the property in 1974. While a member of the Board of Trustees of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Charles Kelley, together with his wife Doris, made the largest pledge ever to Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary for the seminary's capital campaign. Their pledge of $100,000 was to be paid upon sale of a piece of investment property, but the Kelleys decided that they wanted to encourage other members of the Board and friends of the seminary to support the seminary during the period they were without a president. They completed that pledge far ahead of schedule. Charles Kelley is survived by his wife of 64 years and by their five children. Their daughter, Dorothy, is the wife of Dr. Paige Patterson, President of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas; Kathy Kelley is the librarian at an elementary school in Las Vegas, Nevada; Charlene Kelley is a registered nurse in Fort Worth, Texas; Charles S. (Chuck) Kelley, Jr., is President of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and resides with his wife, Rhonda, in New Orleans, Louisiana; and Eileen Kelley Turrentine is the wife of Steve Turrentine, Pastor of Pikes Peak Park Baptist Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Kelley is also survived by 8 grandchildren (Armour Patterson is a free-lance author living with his wife in Arizona; Carmen Patterson Howell is the wife of the Pastor of Northwest Baptist Church living in Houston, Texas with her family; Beth Kaemmerling is on the staff of Guidestone Resources in Dallas, Texas; Angie Kaemmerling Brock and her family reside in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma; Kelley Kaemmerling Wagner resides with her family in Farmersville, Texas; Perry Kaemmerling is a fireman in Waxahachie, Texas; Claire Kaemmerling and Sarah Turrentine are pursuing baccalaureate degrees); and 9 great-grandchildren. ""In addition to being a fabulous father, Dad was the quintessential local churchman. He was the deacon that every pastor wishes he had. His devotion extended beyond the local church to the institutions and agencies of the Southern Baptist Convention. In addition to serving on the Human Welfare Commission and State Missions Commission of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, he also served as a member of the Board of Trustees of Midwestern Seminary and gave generously not only there but also to New Orleans Seminary where his son now serves as president and to Southeastern Seminary where his daughter served alongside me while I was president of that institution. Dad and Mom followed us to Southwestern Seminary with their membership in the President's Club. As a mortician, he ended up much more as a minister to the grieving than as a funeral director burying the dead. In short, few men have ever lived so unselfishly as Charles Kelley.'' Paige Patterson, son-in-law of Charles Kelley and President of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Brown Claybar in personal correspondence in 1983 said, ""Mr. Kelley is a role model for the funeral practitioner and has been successful in every facet of funeral service.'' (personal letter March 11, 1983). Visitation will be on Tuesday, December 12, 2006 from 9:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m. at the Leavell Chapel on the campus of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 3939 Gentilly Blvd., New Orle