Cedar Falls veteran nears 'century soldier' milestone
Don T, Kelly turns 100 Nov. 22
CEDAR FALLS — Nestled back in the woods around Hartman Reserve Nature Center are turkeys, deer, hawks — and one bona fide character.
Don T. Kelly turns 100 on Nov. 22. In that time he’s been a banker, a funeral director, a car salesman, a paper company executive, hunted, fished, golfed, driven his “love boat” 1998 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am around the country, and traveled widely, including an extended tour of the Pacific Northwest courtesy of Uncle Sam at the end of World War II.
And oh yeah, he enjoys a celebratory beer after a victory over his son at cribbage.
A native of Waterloo, Kelly graduated from East High School in 1942. He went to work for the National Bank of Waterloo as part of a vocational class and stayed on after graduation. He worked a total of 27 years there at various positions, including teller, bookkeeper and loan officer.
He was drafted into the Army but initially turned down.
“They discovered I did not weigh enough, so they refused to take me,” he said. He worked on a farm near Independence operated by an aunt and an uncle to build himself up for the service.
He enlisted April 13, 1946, and took basic training in Sheridan, Wyo., qualifying as an expert in the M-1 carbine. “I handled guns prior going into the Army. I was quite a hunter,” he said.
He thought he might be assigned to sniper duty, but instead was transferred to Sam Houston State College in Texas and was trained in business operations. He was stationed at Prince Rupert, Kaen Island, British Columbia, in Canada, where he served under a major in charge of all the troops on the island. They inspected damage done years earlier during the Japanese bombing of Dutch Harbor in the Aleutians, part of Alaska, in the early stages of World War II.
He rose to rank of T-5 technical sergeant and was rotated out on points and discharged in 1949. “Oddly enough, I went in April 13 and went out on April 13” after exactly three years, he said.
His resume after service included a return to the bank, followed by various professions. They included a stint selling cars at a Buick dealership operated by John Deery Sr. He applied his financial acumen to work with cemetery developer Ray Limbricht, securing financing for cemeteries in several South American countries, followed by a time managing Midwest Garden of Memories and Cedar Valley Memorial Gardens cemeteries in Waterloo and Cedar Falls, respectively.
He also worked 17 years at Iowa Paper Co., mainly in management. He worked for a time for Dean Platt of Platt’s Nursery in Waterloo, who dispatched him to Charles City to help with cleanup and restoration of that community after a 1968 tornado.
“It seems like I just bounced from a job to a job to job,” he chuckled. “It wasn’t a case of being fired or anything. It was just a case that I was needed, and I helped, and I got satisfaction out of that.”
He also served 17 years at Waterloo Paper Co., mainly in management. He also worked for a time for Dean Platt of Platt’s Nursery in Waterloo, who dispatched him. to Charles City to help with cleanup and restoration of that community after a 1968 tornado.
“It seems like I just bounced from a job to a job to job,” he chuckled. “It wasn’t a case of being fired or anything. It was just a case that I was needed, and I helped, and I got satisfaction out of that.”
He and his wife, Jean, who was an executive secretary at John Deere in Waterloo, were active in the Iowa Head Injury Association, having a son who suffered a head injury. He also was an officer with United Cerebral Palsy of Northeast Iowa and the local Sertoma Club.
Don and Jean Kelly enjoyed their time together after retirement, going on six cruises and snowbirding in Texas. She passed away in 2022. He becomes emotional when recalling her passing; photos of her watch over him from many corners of the house. They were married 69 years.
He had the whole front yard reseeded and landscaped for her to see when she returned from the hospital.
”It wasn’t in the cards,” he said. “Now she has to look at that from above.”
While comfortable in his home in the woods, doing his own household chores, frequently visited by family and neighbors, Kelly admits to a bit of restlessness. He thinks about another trip to Texas to catch up with old friends down there.
”I’ve been known to get a wild hair,” he said.
But for now, he has plenty of wild hares and other critters to entertain him on his deck and out his window.
Pat Kinney is a freelance writer and former longtime news staffer with the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier and, prior to that, several years at the Ames Tribune. He is currently an oral historian with the Grout Museum District in Waterloo. His “View from the Cedar Valley” column is part of “Iowa Writers Collaborative,” a collection of news and opinion writers from around the state who previously and currently work with a host of Iowa newspapers, news organizations and other publications. Click on their links below to sample their work.
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