Dan was born on August 12, 1931 in Navasota, Texas and was the only child of Issac Kendrick (I.K.) and Dana (Dee) Manning Kelley of Madisonville, Texas. He graduated from Navasota High School and enlisted in the U.S. Air Force where his love of airplanes and flying began. After working his way to Staff Sargent and serving his country he went on to attend and graduate from Sam Houston State University. It was at SHSU that he met and married Sylvia Phillips. Dan had a successful career in the oil and gas industry in Texas and Oklahoma and then in commercial construction in Houston. Upon retirement he moved into homebuilding and even into his late 80’s he could be found sketching and building all sorts of things in his workshop.
He was a man with many interests. He had a pilot’s license, an auctioneer's license and once owned a shrimp boat and race horses. He was a writer of song lyrics, poetic stories to his grandsons, and even a hilarious ‘constructive criticism’ letter to Southwest Airlines that was widely circulated and responded to by the president of Southwest Airlines.
Dan is survived by his wife of 63 years, Sylvia Phillips Kelley of Victoria Texas as well as his three daughters: Betsy Kelley of Los Angeles, CA; Laurie Kelley Eder of Victoria, TX; Cindy Kelley Marshall and her husband Mark Russell Marshall of Victoria as well as his grandchildren: Nick Eder of McKinney, TX; Kelsey Marshall Shive and Brian Shive of The Woodlands, Texas, Jack Eder of San Francisco, CA, and Mason Marshall of College Station, Texas.
A Celebration of Life Service will be held at 11:30 am on Thursday, December 12, 2019 followed by lunch at The Club at Colony Creek, 301 Colony Creek Drive, Victoria, Texas 77901. Military honors will be conveyed under the auspices of the Victoria Veterans Council. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations to Hospice of South Texas would be appreciated.
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