Maine - Family, church, the military, Boy Scouts and motorcycles all key elements of Dale J. Kelly Jr.'s life merged poignantly at his funeral on Saturday.
His wife, Nancy Kelly, led the procession for her husband's funeral out the front door of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, clad in a white robe and bearing a cross as rows of soldiers from the Maine Army National Guard stood at attention and saluted.
Two weeks to the day after Kelly, 48, of Richmond a staff sergeant in the Maine Army National Guard died as a result of a roadside bomb in Iraq, his family, friends, Bath Iron Works co-workers and members of the Maine Army National Guard gathered at St. Paul's Saturday afternoon to say goodbye.
Nancy Kelly served as an acolyte and helped distribute wine during communion, just as she might during a Sunday service.
Dale Kelly Jr. was born in a military hospital in Germany, worked at Bath Iron Works and was an active member of the church. All facets of his life were represented Saturday, with the church and a nearby church hall overflowing with hundreds of mourners.
The start of the funeral drew members of the Boy Scouts and more than 100 motorcyclists, along with members of the armed services to pay tribute to Kelly. Many of the motorcycles bore American flags and flags of the biker group Patriot Guard Riders. Native American drumming preceded the funeral, a reflection of Kelly's Native American heritage.
Despite the sadness that accompanies any funeral, many who spoke Saturday chose to celebrate Kelly's life rather than simply mourn his death. Kelly's love of hiking, motorcycles, his family, St. Paul's and Monty Python, the zany British comedy troupe were all mentioned during the funeral.
Although he said he did not know Kelly as a hiker, motorcyclist, Bath Iron Works employee or Monty Python fan, Maj. Gen. John W. Libby, commander of the Maine National Guard, said he was able to talk about Kelly based on his service in the Maine Army National Guard.
"If I had to characterize Dale's life in one word, it would be excellence," Libby said.
He cited a March 2006 evaluation of Kelly that cited his leading by example, readily volunteering and willingness to do anything for his unit. While working at Bath Iron Works, Kelly arranged to have three plasma cutting torches sent to Iraq to help protect American forces stationed there. The torches were used to increase armor on Humvees.
Dale and Nancy Kelly lived in Richmond and have three children and three grandchildren. They met while they were both serving in the Rhode Island Air National Guard.
When Libby called Nancy Kelly to give his condolences, Libby's quick "Yes, ma'am" to her led to Nancy Kelly to tell him what she wanted to do regarding funeral arrangements for her husband.
"She didn't seek my concurrence," Libby joked. "She briefed me."
They went to Dover, Del., for the arrival of Kelly's body from Iraq. Nancy Kelly rode in the cockpit on the flight down and then stayed with the honor guard with her husband's coffin on the floor of the plane during its return flight to Maine.
While in Washington, D.C., Nancy Kelly and Libby attended the funeral of Sgt. David Veverka, 25, of Jamestown, Pa. who was killed in the same attack as Kelly.
Libby called Nancy Kelly a beacon of strength and pledged to offer her the support of the men and women of the Maine Army National Guard in the future.
"That's what families do, and we're a family," Libby said.
In addition to honoring Kelly as a soldier, other speakers Saturday shared insights into him as a man and about his death has affected them.
David Kelly, Dale's brother, recalled a rain-soaked hiking trip that he, Dale Kelly and their brother, Joseph, made in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, the last chance they had to be together as siblings.
Although he said his brother would have been proud and humbled by the turnout at his funeral, David Kelly added, "I'd give it all back to sit on a mountaintop again with him, with my brother."
Linda Ashe-Ford, director of Christian education for St. Paul's, introduced a letter Kelly had written while in Jamaica for eight days with the youth group in the "Journey to Adulthood" program in August 2003. He and other members of the group went to Steer Town, Jamaica, to help build a community center. Pat McCabe, a co-leader with Kelly in the group, read the letter.
Kelly, who was a Army National Guard medic and nicknamed "Doc," ended up treating cuts and wounds of Jamaican children who may have been scraped by barbed wire and other debris.
"All the children had infections on their feet and legs," Kelly wrote. "One child on his back. I don't know how many children I treated but it seemed like hundreds to me at the time. In reality about 20 to 25. Add to that the mission people and my plans about building were out. God's plans for tending the wounds of others were in."
Last week, Ashe-Ford said Kelly would have been the last person to like the attention related to his funeral, she said.
"He was a private guy. He wouldn't have liked the attention," she said.
Whenever she has heard on the radio or television about members of the armed services killed in Iraq with no names or family members mentioned, she would feel sad and it would not linger because it was not connected to her.
"It's always been a little bit distant. It's not distant any more," Ashe-Ford said.
Since Kelly's death, Ashe-Ford has reacted to news about Iraq casualties differently.
"Every one of those anonymous roadside deaths is someone like us," she said.
The last song of Saturday's funeral honored Kelly's sense of humor and played as his wife held up a cross at the entrance of the church in front of the funeral procession. It was a recording of "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" from the film "Monty Python's Life of Brian."
A short distance away at St. John's Catholic Church, a wedding was ending as the Kelly funeral was about to begin. The midnight blue of the bridesmaids' dressed on the steps of one church contrasted with the black suits and dresses of people going into St. Paul's.
The burial was held at the Maine Veterans Memorial Cemetery on Mount Vernon Road in Augusta later Saturday afternoon.
Attendees at the funeral included Gov. John Baldacci and all the members of the state's Congressional delegation. Police blocked and re-routed traffic on Pleasant Street at the beginning and end of the nearly two-hour service.
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