James Edward Kelly

He was the third child born to John and Ellen Kelly in Hempstead, New

York on June 10, 1923 . He is survived by his wife of 60 years and four children,

seven grandchildren and four great children. He spent his working career with

Grumman Aerospace Corp. First in Long Island on the Gulfstream airplane, then in

White Sands, New Mexico on the Apollo Program in the development of the

motors and engines for the lunar excursion module to successfully launch man to

the moon where he worked at Cape Canaveral in Florida.

Finally he was transferred to Pt. Mugu, California to work in the beginning of the

development of the new F-14 fighter jet. The last job for Grumman was bringing

WW II Grumman built airplanes lined up in storage out of the desert of Arizona

and Nevada to St. Augustine, Florida to be modernized and updated for a better

quality and cheaper price then building them anew. This job lasted eight years.

He then took early retirement from Grumman and started a small RV-Mobile

Home park in north Florida for about seventeen years before moving to the

Tampa, Florida area to enjoy the warm sunshine in full retirement.

As a very young man he was drafted into the Army Artillery service of WW II

War. He was captured as a POW at the Battle of the Bulge and marched every day

in the coldest winter on record in Germany when his group was captured and later

detained in a Nazi Stalag-7B prison camp until the war ended in US victory.

After he was discharged he met and married his first love and they had two small

children after which he lost her in a very serious illness. He lived with the

children after for about three years with his elderly in-laws on Long Island while still

working for Grumman Corp.

It was then that he was blessed to meet another young lady to become his wife to

love and eventually they had two more children. They enjoyed a very long and

loving marriage lasting sixty years until he became 95-1/2 years old at which time

the Good Lord called him home because he was just suffering too much pain and

discomfort. He is now at rest in his heavenly home and not hurting anymore,

having lived a very long and fulfilled life.

Survivors include his wife of 60 years, Juanita Kelly; children, Dennis (Colleen) Kelly, Cindy (Ron) Mullins, Michael (Diane) Kelly and Matthew (Cindy) Kelly; 7 grandchildren, Patrick Sickler, Steven Sickler, Melissa Kelly, Kaylan Kelly, Blake Kelly, Ayden Kelly and Shelby Kelly and 4 great grandchildren, Tamera Sickler, Danny, Khloe and Wyatt Sickler. He was preceded in death by one sister, Kay Orsini and one brother, Jack Kelly.

Funeral Services will be held at 12:00 pm, Wednesday, December 19, 2018 at Wells Memorial. Visitation will be held one hour prior, from 11:00-12:00 pm, at the funeral home. Burial will be held at 2:30 pm in Florida National Cemetery.