Rites Set Today for Fullerton’s Sgt. Kelley

Funeral services will be held today for retired Fullerton Police Sgt. Bobby Kelley, who died Tuesday at Bakersfield Memorial Hospital of a stroke after a long bout with cancer.

The services will begin at 2 p.m. at Hillcrest Memorial Park Chapel in Bakersfield, with interment immediately following at Bakersfield Memorial Park.

Kelley, 54, of Lake Isabella in Kern County, was hospitalized April 15 after suffering one stroke, police said.

Community Fund Raising

Kelley, a 23-year police veteran who had specialized in traffic enforcement, became the object of a communitywide fund-raising effort last summer after doctors determined that a bone marrow transplant was the only way to save his life, Fullerton Police Capt. Richard Kvancz said.

Police eventually raised $77,223 of the $100,000 needed for the operation, but doctors determined that radiation and chemotherapy treatments he was receiving had left him too weak to be a good candidate for surgery, Kvancz said.

The money will now go into an endowment fund in Kelley’s name for the county’s Ronald McDonald House, a temporary shelter for families with cancer-stricken children that is scheduled to open in the fall, police said.

Kvancz described Kelley as a “tenacious” person who never gave up once he had decided to do something. As an example, Kvancz said Kelley decided to learn how to play the saxophone at age 40 and eventually became good enough to play with local bands.

“He was not a quitter when he came down with this cancer, either,” Kvancz said.

The family requests that memorial donations be made to the Bobby Kelley Fund for the Ronald McDonald House, Kvancz said.

Checks may be made out either to the Bobby Kelley Fund or to the Fullerton Police Officer’s Assn., and may be sent to the Fullerton Savings & Loan, 200 W. Commonwealth Ave., Fullerton, Calif. 92632.