Kelley, Donnell F.

Description

Donnell B Kelley was born Feb. 4, 1921, in Port Chester to James and Ann McDonnell Kelley. He lived on 50 New St. in Rye along with his father, his mother, a brother James and sister Jane. Donnell’s father was born in NY and was a Civil Engineer. His mother was born in Connecticut and was a homemaker.

Growing up in Rye, Donnell and his family were members of the Church of the Resurrection and he was a Rye High School Graduate, Class of 1939.

In high school he was very active being a member of the Self Reliant Club and a junior coach for the JV football team. Donnell was also a member of the Glee Club, the Dance Orchestra, the Band and participated in many school theatre production.

He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1942. Donnell served in Company M, Third Battalion, Third Marines, stationed in the South Pacific. See Muster Rolls

Private First Class Kelley served 8 months overseas. He saw action on Guadalcanal and was wounded on Bougainville in 1943.

The Bougainville campaign was a series of land and naval battles of the Pacific campaign of World War II between Allied forces and the Empire of Japan, named after the island of Bougainville. It was part of Operation Cartwheel, the Allied grand strategy in the South

Pacific. The campaign took place in the Northern Solomons in two phases. The first phase, in which American troops landed and held the perimeter around the beachhead at Torokina, lasted from November 1943 through November 1944.

Donnell returned home to recuperate from his wounds in 1943 and served stateside for the duration of the war achieving the accountant rank of corporal in the Marine Corp. He was honorable discharged march 18, 1946. View Discharge Record

After WW2 Donnell lived in Rye and Irvington before moving to Yonkers in 1946. He married Alyce MacDonald in Mount Vernon on May 18, 1946. Donnell was active in the Colt’s Boys Club in Yonkers, serving as treasurer and baseball coach for many years. He was a volunteer at the Better Business Bureau of White Plains from 1985 to 1996. Donnell was an accountant at New Rochelle Hospital Medical Center, now Sound Shore Medical Center of Westchester, for 12 years before his retirement in 1985.

Donnell B Kelley would pass away on 9/28/1997 in his home. He was 76. At the time of his death he was survived by his wife; a son, Kevin David Kelley of Dallas; two daughters, Donna Gail Kelley of New Milford, Conn. Janet Margaret Kelley of Yonkers and four grandchildren.

Matthew Franco
RHS 2021