Obituary

Jerolene Faith Kelley, 93 years, five months, and two days, of Weatherford and formerly of Hale Center, passed from this life, Wednesday, December 28, 2022, at her home in Weatherford, Texas. Funeral services will be held at 10:00 a.m., Wednesday, January 4, 2023, at the First Baptist Church in Hale Center with Rev. Taylor Smith and Pastor Joel Perez officiating. Interment will follow at I.O.O.F. Abernathy Cemetery in Abernathy under the direction of Ramage Funeral Directors. The family will receive friends from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, January 3, 2023, at Ramage Funeral Directors in Hale Center.

Mrs. Kelley was born July 26, 1929, in Arlie, Texas, near Wellington, Texas, to the late Dewey and Olvie (Kirby) Copeland. She moved with her family at an early age to Littlefield, Texas. Later, the family moved to Petersburg, Texas, where she attended school and met and married her high school sweetheart, Charley Leroy Kelley, on December 22, 1945. Jerrye, as she was called, and Leroy moved to Abernathy, Texas in 1948 and later moved to Hale Center, Texas in 1958, where they raised their family of six children and two foster girls, Kaye and Faye Radanovich.

Mrs. Kelley was saved the fall of 1941, at a revival in Petersburg. She moved her letter to Abernathy in 1950 and she and Leroy moved their letters to Hale Center in late 1958. She was a member of Hale Center First Baptist Church for 63 years. They moved to Weatherford, Texas, in 1999.

Jerrye loved to crochet, quilt, and she was a talented seamstress. She was an artist, author, and published poet, as well as a novelist. She and her husband Leroy were Docents of the Ranching Heritage Center in Lubbock, hosting Las Escarbadas, which was a division headquarters of the XIT Ranch 1886. They were also members of a square-dancing club in Littlefield.

Mrs. Kelley was preceded in death by her parents, Dewey and Olvie Copeland, her husband, Leroy Kelley, her son, Morris Kent Kelley, two sisters, Juanita Shirey and Olvie Nell Driver, and three grandchildren, Jason and Jennifer Goree and Alex Barrow.

She is survived by her seven daughters, twins, Karon Kelley Medlin and Sharon Kelley Goree, both of Weatherford, Rhonda Kelley Fowler of Weatherford, twins, Glynda Kelley Williams of Van, Texas and Brynda Kelley Pool and husband Arlon of LaRue, Texas, twins, Kaye Campbell and Faye Dooley of Houston and brother and sister-in-law, Carl and Penny Kelley of Abernathy. She was blessed with 14 grandchildren, 28 great-grandchildren, and three great-great-grandchildren.

The family suggests memorials be made to the Hale Center First Baptist Church PO Box 396 Hale Center, Texas 79041 or the I.O.O.F. Abernathy Cemetery c/o Billie Grimsley 908 5th St. Abernathy, Texas 79311 or by family request, Ramage Funeral Directors PO Box 542 Hale Center, Texas 79041.