Alva A. Kelley, 86, a 50-year Denver-area resident, neighbor and father gently passed from this life on Monday, November 29 of congestive heart failure.

He was born in a log cabin in Merrick, Oklahoma, and graduated from Tryon High School.

Al met Leota in high school and they were married for 41 years before she preceded him in death in 1985. He never remarried.

He retired from Phillips Petroleum Company after 35 years of service in the pipeline division and was active in the Masonic Lodge.

He is survived by one son, Randall; two grandsons, Dustin and Brandon; and four great-grandchildren: Ian, Kayla, Chelsea and Trygve who lit up Grandad Kelley’s life with many visits. Two sisters live in Oklahoma.

My father was content to live a simple life after Mom’s departure in a small house, a solid but never-new car and no debt.

Good books, grandkids, visiting with neighbors and a small group of old friends and watching sunsets from the patio were his chief passions after he could no longer make fishing trips.

He was a faithful Rockies, Cubs and Broncos fan to the end, taking their bad times in stride with the good with few complaints as he did in his own life.

His funeral service will be at 11:00 p.m. on Monday, December 6, 2010 at the Strode Funeral Home Chapel in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

Interment will follow at the Tryon Cemetery.

Strode Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.