William 'Bill' Garfield Kelley - Obituary

The ancient Greeks wrote about their heroes in epic poems. The chiefs of old are drawn on cave walls and their stories handed down in verbal tales from generation to generation to this day, but how do we write about a man whose life was bigger than the world or our reality can hold?

Dr. William Garfield Kelley was born in Baxter Springs, Kansas. He was an educator, a mentor, a coach, and a loving family man. He gave his full heart to everything he did and everyone that knew him. If you are reading this I hope that today you tell your children, and that you yourself were told as a child, that you can live a big life and there is no place you have to go, no amount of money that you have to make, or title you must carry to do it.

Bill loved this community and this State he called home. He taught in Dix and Minatare, and then came to work at ESU 14 here in Sidney for many years. Even if you never met him, if you live in or love the state of Nebraska, it is likely that his work touched your life. Bill worked with Carol Maseke-Frost to start girls Track and Field for Nebraska high schools. He was invited to Washington D.C. by President Lyndon Johnson to join the President’s Council of Education.

Bill taught us all many lessons, but now his lessons have ended, and it is up to all of us to continue to pass them down. He joins the love of his life Jean and many other friends and family in a place beyond our reach. He leaves behind his daughters Debbie, Monica, Denny, Shari, and Paula, 15 grandchildren, 37 great grandchildren, and 3 great-great grandchildren. If you remember him fondly, I encourage you to enjoy some ‘snowshoe grog’ this weekend in honor of a man that loved you.