Bob Timothy Kelly was the middle child of the five Kelly boys. He attended Barton Hill Elementary, Dana Junior High School and graduated from San Pedro High School in 1957. In high school, Tim was a member of the Commodores, Captain of the Gymnastics Team, cheerleader, member of the school band and orchestra, managed a dance band called the " Nocturnes" and played the trumpet for many years.
In 1958. Tim attended California State University and majored in mathematics. While at CSULB, he was a member of the gymnastic team and won state competitions. He also was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon. He attended CSULB for 1 1/2 years and decided to join the United States Air Force, In January of 1960, he began basic training at Lackland Air Force base in San Antonio, Texas. When he completed basic training, he was offered three career choices: dental assistant, air traffic controller and survival instructor. He chose survival instructor.
His training as a survival instructor lasted one year around the Reno Nevada area and included surviving in the desert, mountains, river rafting, seashore, mountain climbing, Arctic, escape and evasion and prisoner of war camp. His final exam as a survival instructor was trekking from the south end of Lake Tahoe through Desolation Valley to the north end of Lake Tahoe in 9 days finding food along the way. The trip was 120 miles with a 100 pound pack. He then trained flight crews for a year before he was transferred to the simulated prisoner of war camp as an interrogator and remained there two years of his Air Force career.
During his stay in Reno, he met future wife Mana Ann Foultz and they married on January 27, 1962 and were married for 58 years.
In 1964. their daughter Casey was born in Reno, Nevada on January 30th. Tim left the Air Force on February 2nd and Mana and he stayed with her parents in Lake Tahoe until Tim got a job with Southern California Edison and settled with his parents at their home in Westminster.
Tim's son Timothy Patrick was born February 5, 1966 at St Mary's hospital in Long Beach CA.
Tim and Mana lived with his parents, JoJO and Warren, until 1967 when Tim was transferred to Yucca Valley as a sales representative for Southern California Edison. They lived in Yucca Valley for 3 years and moved back to JoJO and Warren's for a short time until their new house in Huntington Beach was ready. They moved into their home in July 1970.
Tragedy struck Tim and Mana when their son died on June 17, 1973. He was buried at Westminster Memorial Park on June 20th.
Tim's career at Edison included: meter reader, sales, marketing, community development, community relations, supervision and management. At one point, Tim was one of the 400 managers at Edison. His last few years were spent in developing and implementing a new customer service system and worked in the computer area in that effort. During his time at Edison, he went back to school at California State University, Long Beach and earned his bachelor's degree in psychology.
In 1991, Tim and Mana became grandparents to Alysa and then in 1994 to Jonathan. They were very involved in both of their grandchildren's lives, attending every play, soccer game, concert and dance recital they had participated in.
In June of 1996, Tim retired from Edison. A friend of his daughter asked Tim to build her an entertainment center because his woodworking skills were amazing. He built that entertainment center and kept building custom furniture for many years to come. He also worked as a photographer when a brother of his best friend, Carl, asked Tim to help him in his photography business. He stared doing photo shoots 2-3 times a week. Although he left photography, Tim continued with his woodworking into his 80s.
Tim will be deeply missed.
A memorial service for Bob will be held Monday, July 24, 2023 at 9:30 AM at Westminster Memorial Park, 14801 Beach Blvd., Westminster, CA 92683, followed by a graveside service with military honors.
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.westminstermemorial.net for the Kelly family.
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