Don & Vita Kelley

Don M Kelley, Jr. died peacefully at home on Saturday, January 12th in West Chester, Ohio at the age of 88. He was born on December 26,1930 to Raymonde Almirall Kelley and Don Morrison Kelley, Sr, at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. Don and his sister, Margot K. Baldwin, grew up in New York and Paraguay. He attended Brooks School in North Andover, Massachusetts and graduated from Princeton University in 1953 with a degree in History and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army. It was while serving in Okinawa, Japan that on an airplane flight he found the love of his life, Stewardess Extraordinaire, Vita Fuentes. He was preceded in death by his parents and his sister Margot K. Baldwin.

Vita F Kelley died peacefully at home on Tuesday, January 22nd in West Chester, Ohio at the age of 91. She was born on February 26, 1927 to Ramona (Achurra) Fuentes and Jose Fortunato Fuentes in Negros, Philippines. She attended and graduated from the Assumption School. She was the eldest of eight children. Her family survived the Japanese occupation during World War II by hiding in the jungle. After the war she worked for Philippine Airlines and then Northwest Airlines where she traveled the world, and also met her lifelong love, Second Lieutenant Don M. Kelley. She was preceded in death by her husband, Don, her parents, and brothers Tony, Monette, Bob and recently, Ben. She is survived by her sisters Aida Bell, Yvonne de Mesa, Lulu Pagulayan, many cousins, nieces and nephews living both in the Philippines and United States.

After Don and Vita met it would be romantic to say that it was love at first sight. It was, however, only so for one of them! After some persistence on Don’s part, the two of them started to build a foundation of love that would carry them through many changes and moves around the world. They married in 1956 and celebrated their 62nd wedding anniversary shortly before they died.

They are survived by their three daughters Marguerite Almirall Kelley, Temecula, CA; Mary Eden (Gorden), Albuquerque, NM; and Michele McNally (Matthew), West Chester, OH. Don and Vita will also be fondly remembered by their six grandchildren, Eric, Renee, Joshua, Erin (Jeremy), Kellyn, and Celine, as well as their great-granddaughter, Allie. They cherished their family above all.

After leaving the military, Don and Vita settled in the Philippines where all three of their daughters were born. In 1967, they made a move to Honolulu, Hawaii and subsequently settled in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1971. It was there that Don eventually founded I.M.M., Inc, a business forms and printing company.

Over the years Don continued to grow his business and they both enjoyed golfing and entertaining.. As their family thrived in New Mexico and the girls grew older and left home, Vita founded Sunburst

Fashions, creating custom and one-of-a-kind designs using fabrics she imported from the Philippines. After joining a beginner investment group to learn about the stock market she became a savvy investor. It was not uncommon that her investments outperformed those of the bank.

In Albuquerque they spent many years active in their daughters’ lives, cheering on the St Pius High School football team, volunteering for Meals-on-Wheels, and high school youth group activities to include teaching Spanish to a medical youth group who traveled to South America to administer vaccines.

When Marguerite and David were in the Marine Corps and each had to be stationed on different bases for duty, Don and Vita provided a stable home to their grandson, Eric. Eric thrived under the care, love and guidance of his grandparents.

Don and Vita were very involved in the lives of Mary and Gorden’s family, spending holidays together and accompanying their grandchildren Renee and Josh to many school field trips and excursions. Weekends typically involved Vita’s home cooked meals in exchange for Gorden’s home repair skills. While Don traveled around the state for business, Vita was engaged in several community causes and always took time to cook a meal for friends and neighbors in need. They were also very active in their church with Don serving as a Lector and Eucharistic Minister.

In 2000, Don and Vita made the decision to retire to San Antonio and moved into The Towers at Parklane where they quickly involved themselves in the retired military community there. He was a board member for the retirement community, volunteered extensively at Brooke Army Medical Center in the Burn and Blast Ward as well as the pre-operative unit, and he also continued to serve his church. Vita joined the local line dancing group who performed around San Antonio at various events. They continued their tradition for hosting beautiful dinner parties where she always was cooking amazing food and was meticulous to the last detail. They began hosting a "game" night dinner where she would prepare and serve the game that hunters in the group provided.

They made the decision in 2010 to move to West Chester, Ohio, to be closer to Michele and her family. Once here he continued to volunteer at the Emergency Department at West Chester Hospital as well as his local parish, St John the Evangelist. Vita again found a line dancing group with which to participate. They were well known to attend many band performances, high school plays and lacrosse games to cheer on Erin, Kellyn and Celine and to share weekly Sunday dinners with the McNallys. Don was not shy about telling people how much he loved Vita; she would deflect and act like she didn’t like him! This was a running joke that they had perfected over the years.

Visitation will be held at St John the Evangelist Church, 9080 Cincinnati Dayton Rd, West Chester, OH 45069 on Friday, February 22 at 10 am followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 11 am. In lieu of flowers the family asks that donations be made to either the Wounded Warrior Project or to the Alzheimer’s Association of America.