Obituary of Doris Louise Kelley
Doris Louise (Paxton) Kelley of Nestorville, WV passed away on Wednesday, October 2, 2019. Born on November 29, 1925 at Carolina, WV, she was the daughter of Lawrence and Lula (Rogers) Paxton. She was a 1943 graduate of Monongah High School, worked at the company store in Carolina, and attended the cadet nurses school at St. Mary's Hospital in Clarksburg. She married Jack Kelley on July 21, 1947. In 1956, they moved to a two-hundred acre farm on a hill near Nestorville, where they raised cattle, chickens, pigs, and large vegetable gardens. Doris called this experience “a great adventure.” She was a Nestorville Merrymakers 4-H Club leader and a vacation Bible school teacher, and later a special education teacher’s aide employed by the Barbour County Board of Education. She enjoyed reading, crocheting, walking in the woods on the farm, and playing games with her grandchildren. She was always ready to play Scrabble, and she attended the Nestorville United Methodist Church.
Those who knew Doris were amazed by her strength and resolve as she cared for her husband through his battle with cancer and as she persevered throughout her widowhood. After fifty years of marriage, she was determined to move on by herself, making decisions to enjoy life, continue living on the family farm, garden, travel, give to charities, and share good times with her family. She was a kind and gentle soul, selfless and good-humored and adventurous, with an unrelenting will to help others, and these qualities sustained her through her illness.
Doris is survived by three children: Jack (Andrea) Kelley, Jr., Janie (Jim) Woolfitt, and Larry (Sam) Kelley; six grandchildren: Daman Kelley, John Kelley, Will (Sara) Woolfitt, Emmy (Andrew) McDaniel, Harmony (Jacob Scheick) Grogan, and Daniel (Jenny) Kelley; and three great-grandsons: Ethan Woolfitt, Isaac Woolfitt, and Corbin Kelley, sister-in-law: Ruth Ellen McCall.
Numerous Nieces and Nephews
Doris was the last surviving member of her immediate family. She was preceded in death by two brothers, Dennis and Donald Paxton, and three sisters, Clarice Annan, Ruth Tetrick, and Helen O’Keefe.
Friends will be received at Wright Funeral Home 220 N. Walnut St. Philippi, WV on Sunday, October 6, 2019 from 5-8pm and on Monday, October 7, from 8am-1pm the service hour with Rev. Larry Kyle officiating. Interment will follow in the Rose Hill Cemetery.
