Obit of Kelly, Afton Earl Pop (k400) - Murray County, Oklahoma Submitted by: Dennis Muncrief 23 Jan 2004 Return to Murray County Archives: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ok/murray/murray.htm ========================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ========================================================================== Surnames: Kelly Originally posted at: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/UaB.2ACI/950 Afton Earl Pop Kelly Services for Afton Earl Pop Kelly, 88, Waldron, Ark., a former Sulphur football coach will be held Saturday, Jan. 24 at 2:00 p.m. at St. Lukes United Methodist Church at N.W. 5th and Robinson in Oklahoma City. He was born to Marion Silas and Mamie Mae Sturgess Kelly on the Kelly homestead in Tipton April 26, 1915. He died Friday, Jan. 16 at the Kelly Ranch. He married Mary Elizabeth Taylor to whom he was married for 36 years. He later married Norma Christine Brooks to whom he was married for 27 years. He attended Laing Consolidated School and attended Altus Junior College, Oklahoma Baptist University and Oklahoma A&M, where he graduated in 1946 with a Bachelors in education and later received his Masters in administration. He had a football scholarship at Oklahoma Baptist University on the university's last team. He then transferred to Oklahoma A&M on a football scholarship where he played on the undefeated Sugar Bowl team of 1946. After graduating from Oklahoma A&M he pursued a career in coaching, teaching and school administration. Coach Kelly began the first of five stops in his coaching career at Hennessey. His next stop was at Sayre where his teams won five district titles, reached the semifinals twice and won one state championship. He was at Snyder for one year and then moved to Sulphur for six years, where his team won one state championship in track. His final coaching job was at Nicoma Park Junior High where he coached for four years. He was inducted into the Ok! lahoma Coaches' Hall of Fame in 1991. In addition to coaching, he served in school administration for many years and retired as Assistant Superintendent of Choctaw Public Schools in 1977. He then moved to Waldron, Ark., where he was a cattleman and community volunteer. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Mary Elizabeth Taylor; brothers, Orval, Elmo; and three infant siblings. Survivors are his second wife, Norma Christine Brooks; one son, James Marion Kelly and wife, Mary Ann Gregory; grandsons, Steven Taylor and Scott Gregory, Danville, Calif.;and granddaughter, Ann Michelle Kelly Hutton and husband, Skott, Raleigh, N.C.; great-grandchildren, Jacob and Skyler Hutton, Raleigh, N.C. and Richard Michael, Shawnee; daughter, Mary Earlene Kelly Parr and husband, Mike, Oklahoma City; sisters, Geraldine Suiter, Silver Springs, Md. and Lucile Mitchell, Norman; brothers, Lewis Kelly, Oklahoma City and Lamar Kelly, Lubbock, Texas; and many nieces, nephews and friends. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to Murray County Archives: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ok/murray/murray.htm