PEARISBURG, Va. (WDBJ) – Family, friends, and Pearisburg Volunteer Fire Department are remembering firefighter Gene Kelley for his strong commitment to service and community.
He passed away April 1.
Gene was a volunteer firefighter for 65 years, joining in 1960 when he was just 21. Even before he was old enough to join, he hung around at the department.
His longtime firefighter friends say while they will miss his wisdom and leadership, they will mostly miss laughing and cutting up with him.
“We were out on a fire call, and he said, oh, it ain’t bad. We come up the valley and he is driving. He took that truck this way and that away. He just laughed. We all just died laughing. I said, yeah, I thought it wasn’t too bad,” said Darrell Scott, a longtime friend.
On top of being a volunteer firefighter, Gene was an avid outdoorsman and lover of nature.
He also owned Kelly Gas and Oil Company in Pearisburg for nearly 50 years and refereed football for VHSL for 30 years. He was also known to spend all night on a dance floor.
“I can remember going to one of the firemen’s dances and mom come over and she said, Sandra, you need to go dance with your dad because I’m tired,” said Sandra Kelley, Gene’s daughter.
Besides Gene’s many talents and hobbies, he’s being remembered as a man who put his family before anything and especially by the love he had for his wife, Nellie.
“He loved my mother to death and when she passed away on February 1, every day, he would say, I sure do miss mama,” said Sandra.
Family and friends say they are happy Gene and Nellie can be together again, and they will miss the man who would give even a stranger the shirt off his back.
“There’s a great guy in Heaven getting ready to call a football game,” said David Epperley, a longtime friend and former football referee.
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