Earl Francis Kelley

02/23/2004

Earl Francis Kelley, 73, of 3 Daniels Court died yesterday at Williamstown Commons following a brief illness. He was a longtime Adams selectman. Born in Adams on June 27, 1930, son of Francis M. and Rachel L. Brodeur Kelly, he was a 1948 graduate of the former Adams High School, where he lettered in football, baseball and basketball. A Marine Corps veteran of the Korean War, he served with the 1st Division from the outbreak of the war until he was discharged in 1953. A plumber and pipefitter, Mr. Kelley was a past president and business agent of Local 578 Pipe Fitters and Plumbers. He retired in 1992. He worked on many regional projects, including the Bear Swamp hydroelectric plant, the Yankee Nuclear Power Plant in Rowe and Building 100 in the GE complex in Pittsfield. He had first worked for Ashley Swift plumbing in North Adams and, after retiring, was employed by Berkshire Community Action Council Transport Co. He was a communicant of the Parishes of Notre Dame-St. Thomas' and St. Stanislaus'. He had served as a selectman from May 1968 to March 1979, and was a member of the Susan B. Anthony Celebration Committee, the Adams Planning Board and the Town Demcratic Committee. He was a longtime coach with the Adams Junior Football League and was a mentor for the Jets Junior Team. He was a member of the American Legion and Burnette-Bednarz Post 1995 VFW. He and his wife, the former Patricia A. Jurczak, wre married Mary 1, 1954, in St. Thomas' Church. Besides his wife, he leaves a daughter, Susan A. Burzimati of Cheshire; a son, Thomas M. Kelley of Milford; a sister, Frances Livesy of Fort Pierce, Fla., and four grandchildren. FUNERAL NOTICE -- A Liturgy of Christian Burial for Earl F. Kelley, who died Feb. 23, 2004, will be celebrated by the Rev. Jed Sumampong, CP, of the Passionists of West Hartford, Conn., Thursday at 10 in St. Thomas' Church. Burial will follow in Bellevue Cemetery. Calling hours at McBRIDE FUNERAL HOME, 6 Liberty St., will be tomorrow, Feb. 25, from 3 to 7. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations in his memory be made to the American Cancer Society or St. Thomas' Church through the funeral home. Survivors include a son-in-law, John Burzimati; a daughter-in-law, Jacqueline Kelley; four grandchildren, Michael Kelley of Hamden, Conn., Patrick Kelley of Milford, and Kelley and Nicholas Burzimati of Cheshire. Mr. Kelley was predeceased by two sisters, Lois DeGere and Clair Burke.

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