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Donald Charles Kelly died peacefully in his sleep on August 8, 2018 at his daughter’s home in Ashland. He was 16 days short of his 91st birthday. Born in West Seattle on August 24, 1927 to George Leo Kelly and Hannah Margarite Oberg, Don and his sister, Maxine, spent their formative years growing up a stone’s throw from Alki Beach. Don always enjoyed the water, especially that of Puget Sound, and always seemed to have a boat, even sewing by hand the sails for his first sailboat. He graduated from West Seattle High School in 1945 and enlisted in the Navy at the end of World War II, serving on a landing ship medium (LSM) in the Panama Canal, Mississippi River and Florida waters as an engine mechanic until his Honorable Discharge from active duty as Fireman, First Class, in 1946. He remained in the Navy Reserve until 1954. After his discharge in 1946, Don studied mechanical engineering at Gonzaga and was always proud of his Bulldog connection. He took a job working at remote logging camps and later scavenged cut logs from Puget Sound beaches by tugboat. His best friend, Fred Bell, introduced Don to Betty Jo Keelen, and they were married in 1951. There followed three sons and a daughter and the family lived in the South Puget Sound area while Don worked for an oil company before he started work in heavy equipment sales, specializing in conveyor systems for aggregate production, leading to his nickname “Rock Crusher” and the subsequent name of his heavy equipment consulting business. Don moved the family as his career evolved, living in Sherwood and Tigard in the Portland area. He later moved the family to Medford in 1975 when Empire Rubber needed him to run a branch office selling heavy conveyor equipment. Betty and Don went their separate ways in 1979 and Don traveled the country plying his trade, living in places such as Connecticut, Kentucky, Alaska and California before settling in the Portland/Vancouver area, buying and selling heavy equipment until his retirement in 2014. He moved to a retirement home in Ashland in 2015 to be close to family, and then moved in with his daughter and her husband the following year. Don was an ebullient salesman and never allowed anyone he met to remain a stranger. He loved the outdoors, especially anywhere near the water, and once waterskied along the Inside Passage on his way back from Alaska. He enjoyed fishing and rafting, including his last trip down the Class IV rapids of the Klamath when he was 80. He relished his role as grandfather and would visit his grandchildren in Ashland often, treating them to annual words of wisdom every Christmas. He also made sure to bring a doggie treat for Jackson every time he visited. He was preceded in death by his mother, father and sister. He is survived by his four children, Donnie, Tim, Lee and Joann (Brent), six grandchildren, Jasmine, Bonnie, Zachary, Marcus, Kiley, Adeline, one great granddaughter, Amelia, and the Wallis clan of Twisp, Washington. A private graveside service will be held on his birthday at the National Cemetery in Eagle Point.

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Donald C. Kelly

August 24, 1927 - August 8, 2018