Clifford A. KELLY

April 13, 1937 - August 14, 2025

Cliff Kelly passed away peacefully from this life on August 14. He was 88 years old.

Born in San Francisco, CA, in 1937, with a love of sports and movies, he would spend the summer days of his youth with his older brother, Bob, on his grandmother's farm and in Candlestick Park, selling programs and peanuts at Giants and 49ers games. After a short stint in the Army and an education at San Francisco State University, he moved to Seattle, WA, where he met lifelong friends and his beautiful wife, Esther, whom he married in 1962. They shared four daughters together. He was an insurance agent for over 35 years, beginning his early career moving with the agency between Seattle, Spokane, Great Falls, MT, and San Jose, CA, before moving permanently with his family back to Spokane in 1973 to start an agency, Corkery & Jones Insurance, with his industry friends. After the tragic early death of Esther from cancer in 1986, he met Kathryn "Kit" Kremenak a few years later, and they were married in 1999. They shared many wonderful adventures together until her untimely death from cancer in 2023, gone too soon.

He loved to travel, to cook, to drink wine, watching the 49ers and the Mariners, enjoying movies, and reading a good book. He was loved as Papa by his many grandchildren, and they loved hearing him tell his abundant stories about his life. He will always be remembered by his children, stepchildren, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and many friends as a kind old soul who had a lovely laugh and a penchant for breaking out into song. We will all miss him dearly.

Donations can be made in Cliff's memory to The American Heart & Stroke Association, 601 Union St., Suite 2420, Seattle, WA 98101, www.heart.org; or to PBS, www.pbs.org.