News Item

Helmuth Slisarenko Presents a Tribute to Larry Kelly

Posted on Sunday, January 10th 2010   

Larry Kelly (2nd from right) was a member of our club since 1977, served on the board of directors from 1983 to 1983, becoming 2nd Vice president, and then 1st Vice president before being Club President in 1988-1989. The committees he chaired included youth, program, Beechwood Children’s Centre, Environment, and Archives.
Larry Kelly made many contributions to this community - coaching and mentoring youth in sports, serving as chair in 2000 of Hot Foot Happening, serving on St Joseph’s Hospital Board, The Museum Board, a teacher, a principal and The Mayor’s Award winner in 2008.
In retirement Larry also loved being at his cottage with his family and his companion Golden Retriever, Dawson. He and Ferne spent a week as lighthouse keepers in a working lighthouse on Georgian Bay just over a year ago.
Jim Anderson nicknamed Larry “Red” Maple for his passion for our club’s tree planting efforts, a project started by Dave Kennedy. Who can forget the banter of Jim and Larry at the podium exhorting us to come out on what was to be a warm and sunny day to put some new young Guelph citizens’ roots in the ground. Along with a list of essential tools for tree planting we were lulled by Larry’s Irish charm using his best strong and hypnotic voice, telling us not to forget our sunscreen and sunhats. It invariably rained or snowed on tree planting day. But Larry was always there, even to the point where I remember Ferne bringing him to the back of the new B.M. High School on Clair Rd. only a day or two after being released from hospital after his most recent surgery. He was that dedicated to tree planting.
I had the good fortune of being involved with Larry in the activity of curling. A few years ago eight friends from The Rotary Club of Guelph traveled to Utica, New York to participate in a CanAm Bonspiel. It was during the ride down that I learned that Larry was a relation of mine by marriage. Ferne’s grandfather and Dana’s grandmother were married in their senior years. From then on Larry and I referred to each other as Brother Larry and Brother Helmuth.
In 2002 Larry was to be on a Rotary Curling Team embarking on a one month curling tour of Scotland. However, a heart attack knocked him down just one week before departure and he couldn’t go. He was later chosen to represent Guelph on the 2006, 50th Anniversary Canada to Scotland Curling Tour Team and I was fortunate enough to join him. Our friendship grew again.
Again, I had the honour of working with Larry as he organized the Scots return visit to Guelph as part of the 2008 incoming team and also setting in motion the 2010 Canadian outgoing team. Larry along with Ferne, enjoyed being able to attend a team reunion this past September in Thornbury, in spite of his need to be on dialysis nightly.
A measure of the impact that he made on this team was attendance by almost all of us at the funeral from as far east as Montreal, Ottawa, Kingston and south from Grimsby and north from Meaford and west from Simcoe to appear in full battle dress and stand as an honour guard with all of our Guelph Rotarians as he was carried out of the church.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to his beloved wife Ferne, his sons Michael, Ryan, Kevin, their spouses and his daughter Shannon. These thoughts put together by the Kelly family represented Larry’s philosophy of life: “Live Simply, Love Generously, Care Deeply, Speak Kindly, Leave the rest to God.”