In light of the upcoming Father’s Day weekend, I dedicate this week’s KellyGram to my father, Garland F. Kelly. My dad was born at his home in Pleasant Shade, VA in 1924. He was the youngest of ten children, and his father died of pneumonia when he was three years old. Dad went to school until the 8th grade but had to drop out because his brothers were all at war serving in the United States Army, and my grandmother needed help in keeping a roof over their head.

My dad initially went to work in a grocery store nine miles down the road in my hometown of Emporia, VA. He worked there for five years, then began a career that spanned almost 40 years working for the town’s Jewish merchant in his department store. There were no chains back in that day, and almost every southern town had a Jewish merchant. This Jewish merchant, like all the rest spread through the Southeast, was a very hardworking, industrious and brilliant man who at one point owned almost half of the town. He took dad under his wing, and dad had a wonderful relationship with the Bloom family for all those years. After his relocation to Columbia in 1984, my dad worked another 20 years in a men’s clothing business, where I worked as well through high school and college.

My dad was short on formal education but nonetheless was incredibly wise. He taught me many things but drilled in my head three very important rules to live by. First and foremost he taught me, “Mike, we Kelly’s are working men!” Secondly, “Mike, we Kelly’s are Ford men!” Thirdly, “there is no future in an ugly woman!” (LOL!) I took these rules to heart and they have served me well.

My dad passed away in 2008 and is buried St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church alongside my mother and late wife, Anne Garrison Kelly, and I miss them all every day. Thank you, Garland F. Kelly, for being the most wonderful dad! I love you!