He was b. on the farm near Harrisburg to Samuel Millikin & Jennie Tempest (Skinner) Kelly.
In the group photo with some of his siblings, Vern is center rear. From left to right are his half sister Gladys Kelly, his brother Earl Kelly, his brother Ernest Kelly, his brother Glenn Kelly, and his sister Lillian Kelly. In the football photo, he's wearing his high school football uniform from about 1915-1919. He attended high school in Banner Co., NE.
After he m. Alice Lucile Galbraith in 1930 Sidney, IA, they lived in Omaha, NE before moving to CA 1936-1937. They lived in Monterey Park, CA while Vern worked in a gas station before buying a house near San Gabriel in an unincorporated part of Los Angeles County and taking a job as a letter carrier at the San Gabriel post office. Vern worked as a letter carrier for many years. They had two daughters.
After his high school football photo, he's shown with his sister Lillian (Kelly) Gable in a black & white photo, then with Alice in front of their Christmas tree.
Dad loved math. Since Mom never learned how to drive, Dad used to take the grocery list to the market to buy the groceries. He enjoyed adding up the cost of the items in his head while they were being checked by the checker. If the checker made a mistake, he'd mention it.
He was very frugal. He always put some aside from each paycheck toward retirement and what he called "the unexpected." He was always kind and generous with his family though, such as when I needed eye surgery as a child.
By the time I was old enough to play in their backyard at their home on Charlotte near San Gabriel, Dad had planted a beautiful assortment of fruit trees. They included apricot, a Japanese plum and a European plum, peach, nectarine, lemon, and a magnificent fig tree with the best tasting fresh figs I'd ever eaten. There were rows of sweet blackberries, an artichoke plant, and tomatoes were grown during the summer. During the summer when playing in the backyard, my friends and I never had to go inside the house for a snack. There was always something great growing in the yard. When I was able to fly down to visit Jean, who was still living there, in 1994, I was devastated to see that all of the fruit trees and berry vines had been removed except for the lemon tree. Since she had told me in 1994 that I was her only heir, I wished that she'd consulted me first before making a change like that. When I asked her why she'd made the changes, she said it was because the trees and berry vines were "messy." I was shocked, but didn't criticize what she'd done. I thought I should wait to see how she planned to develop the backyard. Maybe she was planning to make it even better.
Dad enjoyed John Philip Sousa music, as well as listening to Bing Crosby singing and Hawaiian music. He had a casual Hawaiian shirt that he liked to wear sometimes. For Thanksgiving and Christmas, his favorite dessert was mincemeat pie.
He always said that he thought the worst thing that could happen to him would be to lose his eyesight, so it was especially sad when he lost his vision to glaucoma. At the time, he was also depressed due to Mom having passed away.
In the group photo with some of his siblings, Vern is center rear. From left to right are his half sister Gladys Kelly, his brother Earl Kelly, his brother Ernest Kelly, his brother Glenn Kelly, and his sister Lillian Kelly. In the football photo, he's wearing his high school football uniform from about 1915-1919. He attended high school in Banner Co., NE.
After he m. Alice Lucile Galbraith in 1930 Sidney, IA, they lived in Omaha, NE before moving to CA 1936-1937. They lived in Monterey Park, CA while Vern worked in a gas station before buying a house near San Gabriel in an unincorporated part of Los Angeles County and taking a job as a letter carrier at the San Gabriel post office. Vern worked as a letter carrier for many years. They had two daughters.
After his high school football photo, he's shown with his sister Lillian (Kelly) Gable in a black & white photo, then with Alice in front of their Christmas tree.
Dad loved math. Since Mom never learned how to drive, Dad used to take the grocery list to the market to buy the groceries. He enjoyed adding up the cost of the items in his head while they were being checked by the checker. If the checker made a mistake, he'd mention it.
He was very frugal. He always put some aside from each paycheck toward retirement and what he called "the unexpected." He was always kind and generous with his family though, such as when I needed eye surgery as a child.
By the time I was old enough to play in their backyard at their home on Charlotte near San Gabriel, Dad had planted a beautiful assortment of fruit trees. They included apricot, a Japanese plum and a European plum, peach, nectarine, lemon, and a magnificent fig tree with the best tasting fresh figs I'd ever eaten. There were rows of sweet blackberries, an artichoke plant, and tomatoes were grown during the summer. During the summer when playing in the backyard, my friends and I never had to go inside the house for a snack. There was always something great growing in the yard. When I was able to fly down to visit Jean, who was still living there, in 1994, I was devastated to see that all of the fruit trees and berry vines had been removed except for the lemon tree. Since she had told me in 1994 that I was her only heir, I wished that she'd consulted me first before making a change like that. When I asked her why she'd made the changes, she said it was because the trees and berry vines were "messy." I was shocked, but didn't criticize what she'd done. I thought I should wait to see how she planned to develop the backyard. Maybe she was planning to make it even better.
Dad enjoyed John Philip Sousa music, as well as listening to Bing Crosby singing and Hawaiian music. He had a casual Hawaiian shirt that he liked to wear sometimes. For Thanksgiving and Christmas, his favorite dessert was mincemeat pie.
He always said that he thought the worst thing that could happen to him would be to lose his eyesight, so it was especially sad when he lost his vision to glaucoma. At the time, he was also depressed due to Mom having passed away.
He was b. on the farm near Harrisburg to Samuel Millikin & Jennie Tempest (Skinner) Kelly.
In the group photo with some of his siblings, Vern is center rear. From left to right are his half sister Gladys Kelly, his brother Earl Kelly, his brother Ernest Kelly, his brother Glenn Kelly, and his sister Lillian Kelly. In the football photo, he's wearing his high school football uniform from about 1915-1919. He attended high school in Banner Co., NE.
After he m. Alice Lucile Galbraith in 1930 Sidney, IA, they lived in Omaha, NE before moving to CA 1936-1937. They lived in Monterey Park, CA while Vern worked in a gas station before buying a house near San Gabriel in an unincorporated part of Los Angeles County and taking a job as a letter carrier at the San Gabriel post office. Vern worked as a letter carrier for many years. They had two daughters.
After his high school football photo, he's shown with his sister Lillian (Kelly) Gable in a black & white photo, then with Alice in front of their Christmas tree.
Dad loved math. Since Mom never learned how to drive, Dad used to take the grocery list to the market to buy the groceries. He enjoyed adding up the cost of the items in his head while they were being checked by the checker. If the checker made a mistake, he'd mention it.
He was very frugal. He always put some aside from each paycheck toward retirement and what he called "the unexpected." He was always kind and generous with his family though, such as when I needed eye surgery as a child.
By the time I was old enough to play in their backyard at their home on Charlotte near San Gabriel, Dad had planted a beautiful assortment of fruit trees. They included apricot, a Japanese plum and a European plum, peach, nectarine, lemon, and a magnificent fig tree with the best tasting fresh figs I'd ever eaten. There were rows of sweet blackberries, an artichoke plant, and tomatoes were grown during the summer. During the summer when playing in the backyard, my friends and I never had to go inside the house for a snack. There was always something great growing in the yard. When I was able to fly down to visit Jean, who was still living there, in 1994, I was devastated to see that all of the fruit trees and berry vines had been removed except for the lemon tree. Since she had told me in 1994 that I was her only heir, I wished that she'd consulted me first before making a change like that. When I asked her why she'd made the changes, she said it was because the trees and berry vines were "messy." I was shocked, but didn't criticize what she'd done. I thought I should wait to see how she planned to develop the backyard. Maybe she was planning to make it even better.
Dad enjoyed John Philip Sousa music, as well as listening to Bing Crosby singing and Hawaiian music. He had a casual Hawaiian shirt that he liked to wear sometimes. For Thanksgiving and Christmas, his favorite dessert was mincemeat pie.
He always said that he thought the worst thing that could happen to him would be to lose his eyesight, so it was especially sad when he lost his vision to glaucoma. At the time, he was also depressed due to Mom having passed away.
In the group photo with some of his siblings, Vern is center rear. From left to right are his half sister Gladys Kelly, his brother Earl Kelly, his brother Ernest Kelly, his brother Glenn Kelly, and his sister Lillian Kelly. In the football photo, he's wearing his high school football uniform from about 1915-1919. He attended high school in Banner Co., NE.
After he m. Alice Lucile Galbraith in 1930 Sidney, IA, they lived in Omaha, NE before moving to CA 1936-1937. They lived in Monterey Park, CA while Vern worked in a gas station before buying a house near San Gabriel in an unincorporated part of Los Angeles County and taking a job as a letter carrier at the San Gabriel post office. Vern worked as a letter carrier for many years. They had two daughters.
After his high school football photo, he's shown with his sister Lillian (Kelly) Gable in a black & white photo, then with Alice in front of their Christmas tree.
Dad loved math. Since Mom never learned how to drive, Dad used to take the grocery list to the market to buy the groceries. He enjoyed adding up the cost of the items in his head while they were being checked by the checker. If the checker made a mistake, he'd mention it.
He was very frugal. He always put some aside from each paycheck toward retirement and what he called "the unexpected." He was always kind and generous with his family though, such as when I needed eye surgery as a child.
By the time I was old enough to play in their backyard at their home on Charlotte near San Gabriel, Dad had planted a beautiful assortment of fruit trees. They included apricot, a Japanese plum and a European plum, peach, nectarine, lemon, and a magnificent fig tree with the best tasting fresh figs I'd ever eaten. There were rows of sweet blackberries, an artichoke plant, and tomatoes were grown during the summer. During the summer when playing in the backyard, my friends and I never had to go inside the house for a snack. There was always something great growing in the yard. When I was able to fly down to visit Jean, who was still living there, in 1994, I was devastated to see that all of the fruit trees and berry vines had been removed except for the lemon tree. Since she had told me in 1994 that I was her only heir, I wished that she'd consulted me first before making a change like that. When I asked her why she'd made the changes, she said it was because the trees and berry vines were "messy." I was shocked, but didn't criticize what she'd done. I thought I should wait to see how she planned to develop the backyard. Maybe she was planning to make it even better.
Dad enjoyed John Philip Sousa music, as well as listening to Bing Crosby singing and Hawaiian music. He had a casual Hawaiian shirt that he liked to wear sometimes. For Thanksgiving and Christmas, his favorite dessert was mincemeat pie.
He always said that he thought the worst thing that could happen to him would be to lose his eyesight, so it was especially sad when he lost his vision to glaucoma. At the time, he was also depressed due to Mom having passed away.
