The Mena weekly star., 1921-07-07
H|DCE J. s. KELLY
 eOES TO REWARD
<>1e of Mena's Best Known Citizens Passes Away at The Boulders Fri aay Evening-Funeral Services
 at the Home Sunday.

n Friday evening, July 1, 1921, as the sun was passing toward Western horizon, Judge John a Kelly answered the last roll on this earth, passing peacefully fe beyond at The Boulders, the e of Mir. and Mrs. M. A. Stratton. Iast illness dated from March Is, !. and up to that time, tho past three score years and ten he was of the most active men in the city, zctivity being manifested not only r lines of his personal business also along matters of civic inn civic righteousness and Highest type of city, state and na- n government. Even dur 6is last illness he was looking for $ from day to day to the time i he hoped to join some of his panions in fishing and hunting s thru which source he gained so II of his recreation. Then, too, u1t up to the last he kept up an t4et in the forward movement in a and community, a movement to .H in earlier years he had given so i of his time, thought and energy. 1ige John s. Kelly was born May zs42 in Newton county, Mo-, his s1ts being the Rev. Jeptha M. E and Mary Isabell Kelly. He llnited in marriage on October 22, tp Miss Susannah Spencer, thus me to them in the course of |an events to observe their Golden ding anniversary at The Boulders 22, 1918, doing so in quiet ncaceful enjoyment of loving 1ERes and fitting tokens of esteem E Relatives and friends. To this
 union were born three children, son dying in infancy, and the |rs being Mrs. M. A. Stratton of eity and J. Spencer Kelly of AL E=erque, N. M. At his bedside, as |Sssed away were his faithful com |oa of more than a half century, . 4ho frail and broken in body, was 0rave and comforting in mind and i Mir. and Mrs. NJ. A. Stratton, |zte, Mrs. Mary Spencer-Trigg of 3<zdo Springs, Mo. The son, J. 6<er Kelly, tho he had planned for | time to be at the bedside of his |6r, was unable to be here on &C., f of the illness of Mrs. Kelly.
 is no mere statement to say that .ybody in Mena knew, loved and 1ected Judge Kelly, yet. it was |zI only to few to know him and |alue him really for what he was th as a man and a citizen. He
 one who from early boyhood ned what it was to undergo hard E and privations, thus he could, ! the later years of his life, sym 1ize with those who had trials and hles and with those who were hon !s-and earnestly fighting the bat of life.
 11ge Kelly enlisted in the war of Hates at Windsor, Mo, the county
 of Henry county, to which his sAts had moved from Newton 1ty. His enlistment was in the !s&w Grays, one of the first com |e4 raised for the Confectionery in State of Missouri. He was in r battle in which General Stirling k$ army engaged, and was with at the surrender at Shreveport, Hn June s, 1865. lie was shot ] Ihe body at the battle of Car EHi and was seriously wounded in F Engagements. After the war ze Kelly returned to Windsor, en- |4k in business and remaining in eity until July "A, 1899, when he His. Kelly came to Mena.
 |1ce coming to Mena, Judge Kelly been the senior member of the of Kelly-Stratton Company, and t0 the day that he was stricken 3 bis personal attention to the in- |4ee department of the business. |4zs work he was exceedingly 'staking and accurate, having in I the best interest of the com |ss he represented as well as the 'Q1s of his department. His great E However, while a citizen of Mena Ehe labor of love he for many !4 performed as commissioner of llen Park. It was due to his vis-
 4d the cooperation of the Rev. Gallagher, that all of Mena now x pride in the fact that in Jans-
 Ark, Mena possesses one Of the E civic assets in the state. It is le building of this park that Judge E Erected a memorial for himself.
 fs ago, on August 16, 1916, to
 et in date, the St. Louis Globe
 rat, in a special story told beau
 the work being done in Mena
 lee Kelly. Thus 1t was written:
 # beauty spot, covering four
 in the center of the town, it's
 pment and the preservation of
 monument of primitive days,
 largely to the untiring efforts
 ex-Confederate soldier, Judge
 kelly. He conceived the idea of
 ting the old log cabin, built
 <wo years ago, into a historic
 5d council chamber. When the
 thers meet they sit around the
 2hioned hearthstone, and smoke
 Havanas in the chimney corner.
 <hamber of commerce is vine
 Rith English ivy and clematis.
 Dor yard is filled with flowers,
 fed by privet hedge. The pie
 le cabin, and the nearby foun-
 1th the pretty bronze statues
 t the center attractions in one
 most beautiful parks in the
 nnd. Just at the foot of the
 B fine spring of pure water that
 D small lakes. From this foun-
 youth which De Soto failed to
 e people of Arkansas have been
 lg perpetual youth from time
 1prial."
 RAJ SERVICES J. s. KELLY.