Funeral services for Cecile Kelley, 80, formerly of Portales, will be held at 11:00 AM, Wed., Jan. 3, 2018 at the University Baptist Church in Portales with Rev. Steve Smith officiating. Burial will follow in the Portales Cemetery with Steven Kelley, Perry Kelley, Donald Stuart, Matthew Kelley, Josh Turner and Dylan Stuart serving as pallbearers.
Wilma Cecile Kelley, known to virtually everyone as “Cecile,” was born Jan. 21, 1937 in Portales to the home of Essie Mae (Singleton) and Cecil Smith and died early on the morning of Dec. 29, 2017 in Plainview, TX. At the age of 16 she moved to Bledsoe, TX where she lived for a year and attended high school. When her future husband, Wendell Kelley returned home from the Army, she returned to Portales. She and Mr. Kelley were married in Bledsoe on June 10, 1955. In 1956, they moved to California, and she worked in the Nabisco plant in Buena Park as a cookie packer. Cecile was eventually promoted to the position of foreman. She was employed there for 18 years.
She and her husband returned to Portales in 1983. For several years they were members of Calvary Baptist Church where Cecile taught the toddlers in Sunday School. In the early 1990’s they moved their membership to the University Baptist Church. A few years ago, she and her husband relocated to Lubbock to be nearer their daughter and their medical providers.
Cecile was a wonderfully generous lady who helped numerous people in need. She was a devoted wife and mother, and an amazing cook and baker. Family favorites included her fried chicken and beef stroganoff. She loved to bake cookies and pies, especially peach pies from the peaches on their tree. Cecile enjoyed gardening and yard work, and together she and Wendell kept an immaculate yard. There was always a soft place in her heart for children, and animals, especially dogs.
She is survived by Wendell, her husband of more than 62 years of Lubbock; two sons, Steven Kelley and wife, Pat of Las Vegas, NV and Perry Kelley and wife, Amy of Salt Lake City, UT; a daughter, Cindy Stuart and husband, Donald of Lubbock, TX; a daughter-in-law, Lorna Kelley of Logan, UT; 13 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren; a brother, Jim Smith and wife, Ruth of Portales; and a sister, Laverna Harris of Petaluma, CA. She was preceded in death by her parents, a brother, Kenneth Smith and a sister, Doris Wagner.
