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I was born in Pueblo Colorado while my dad John David Kelley was
stationed at the army base in Colorado Springs where he meet his
mother Iva June
Kennaday while she was working on base. When I was nine months old
June and John D returned to Carlisle Kentucky where he lived before he
joined the service. My mom and dad rented a house on US 36 just
outside of Carlisle, Kentucky. My sister Carolyn June was born
in 1945. My dad bought a piece of land just down the road from where
we lived. He put up a large tent and we lived in the tent while he built a
home for us to live in. My dad later added a garage beside their
house and added onto the house to open a business as a grocery and
service station. When Ron was five years old he fell out of a
tree and broke his left arm in three places. He was in
the hospital in
Lexington
Kentucky for three weeks before he could come home. After
returning home he had to do therapy for several months and still lives
with a left arm unable to extend all the way out.
My father loved to fish and spent many days of summer at the rivers
near by setting trot lines and fishing them. From the time
I was small my father and mother would take me to the river and
spend several days at a time fishing. When I was young my parents
would build a play pin out of sticks to keep me away from the water.
I think this is why even now I love to fish and being around the
water. I attended the Carlisle High School from the first grade thru
the twelfth grade.
My parents lived outside of Carlisle and I enjoyed playing and hunting
in the hillsides around where we lived.
My dad bought me a horse when I was 12 years old and we kept him on a
neighbors farm where I would spent many days riding in the
fields where I lived. My father later bought a small farm close
by and Ron and his sister Carolyn would help harvest the crops.
When I got old enough I helped my parents with the gas station and
learned to work on cars and became good with my hands. My
father later traded the farm for a cabin on a piece of land on Licking
River and the family would spend most of their free times there
fishing and boating.
My teenage years I started helping the local farmers harvest
their crops and doing odd jobs for extra money. I always had money in
my pockets
because of working on the farms.
I continued doing farm work until I graduated from school.
I bought my first car when I
was only fourteen. In those days if you were caught driving without a
license you would only have to pay a fine.. By having a
car so young I was the only one to have a car that early there were a
lot of people who wanted to be friends. Two of my best friends were David Howard and Bobby Gaunce, the three of
us
became great friends that has lasted to this day. My senior year I
went to Washington, DC with my class mates and graduated in May
1961. Because I was only seventeen when I graduated I couldn’t
find a good paying job. All the good paying jobs wouldn't hire anybody
until the were 18 or older. I was told that most places couldn’t insure
anyone unless they were eighteen or older. Most jobs I
worked at were farm work or any other job I could find. When I turned
18 I went to work for a meat processing
plant that processed meat for farmers. My job was to process the
sausage and hamburger. I worked there for a short time when I cut
off my little finger on the right hand. I was off work for three
months. When I was able to return to work that job was no longer
available so I went to work at Buntin’s Garage in Carlisle as an auto
clean up person where I later moved up to working in the auto parts department.
in the summer of 1962 I went out one evening with my sister Carolyn
and she introduced me to a friend of her's Betty Carol Fitzpatrick she
was 15 and I was 18 in those day age wasn't as important as it is now
days. It was love at first sight and Ron and Betty were married in
Carlisle, Kentucky on April 6, 1963 at the Presbyterian Church on
Broadway St. Ron and
Betty moved into a trailer on Myers Station Road in Carlisle, Kentucky.
In June of 1963 they found out that Betty was pregnet and would need a
bigger place to live. They moved into a house in Myers Station living there
a short time before moving to a house in Carlisle in November 1963.
Their oldest daughter Lisa June was born on December 18, 1963 while they lived there. In September of 1964 he moved to
Georgetown to be closer to
the job I had at Stiohn Products where I deburred parts for
IBM typewriters. Their second daughters Anna Carol was born while
they lived in Georgetown. After working there for about a year I
enrolled into a four year Government Sponsored apprentice program as a
Tool and Die maker. To complete the program I had to have on the job
experience and finish four years of school at
Central Kentucky
Vocational School. Betty
and I moved into a house in Lexington Kentucky in 1966.
Our Son Ronald Jr.
was born on June 9, 1966 in Lexington.
I finished the apprenticeship program in
1969.
Betty
and I had our house
to burn in the summer of 1969 while visiting Betty's sister Sandy
Thompson in Tampa Florida. We lost everything except what we had
taken with us. I quit my job December 1969 and moved to Indianapolis,
Indiana where we lived with my sister Carolyn Curtis. I don't
think Betty was very happy moving away from the place where her family
and friends lived. She didn't say anything to me but I know that this
was one ay the hardest things she had to do.
I loved my wife very
much and I sure hated asking her to do this. These were some hard
times for our family as we didn't have much and it took all I could
make to live on. Our car went shot and I had to borrow a old car that
my dad had to get back and forward to work.
I got a job as a machinist at Midwest Bridge corp.
That year we would go to the Goodwill stores and by toys for the
children and put them away for their Christmas. Betty and her sister
Sandy would go to the parks and hunt night crawlers and sell them so
we would have enough money to by our groceries. January 8, !970
and moved into a apartment on Nowland Ave. We later moving to an
apartment on 10th street in Indianapolis. In
April of 1970 my father died from scurrilous of the liver because he
had drink whiskey for most of his life. My mother didn't have any
family living in Carlisle, Kentucky so I helped he sell her house
there. She bought a house in Indianapolis and moved there in th summer
of 1970. I went to work
for Insley Manufacturing in May 1970 as a machinist/inspector and
later became President of the local union. Our family became
members of the Wallace Street Presbyterian church. Ron and Betty's three children
Lisa, Anna and Ronald Jr. were baptized in the church on April 4,
1972. Ron and Betty bought their first house at 4031 North Irwin
Street in August 1972. I quit Insley Mfg. in 1973 and went to work
for Purdue University at Indianapolis as a Laboratory Technician in
the School of Engineering Technology. I started coaching in a youth
football league in 1975 where my son played football. After my son was
out of the program I stayed on as a coach. I later became President /coach of the Lawerance youth football league.
I was part of the league until I
left in 1995. During this time I also coached a youth baseball league
for three years. In 1991 Ron along with five others Lawerance
residents and the
assistance of the local schools organized a youth basketball program
in the Lawrence schools which became very popular in the Lawerance
township the schools.
I worked for the University until July of 1978 where I quit because
I was having trouble making enough making to supply his family with their needs.
I
went to work at National Aluminum as a maintenance man. In August
1981 his oldest daughter moved out to become her own person and in
1982 married Christian Hunnicutt. In the 80's Ron & Betty
became foster parents and took in
foster kids. One of the foster kids, Steven Wayne Banks December
22, 1980 – August 10, 1981. Sherrie Jones moved in on Feburary-1982.
Sherrie stayed until she finished high school and went to medical
school where she finished and moved out on her own. In November 1981
I was contacted by the university where I worked before and decided I
would return to work for them. Our youngest daughter Anna moved out in May 1983 after
graduation and married Greg Wert. In the early eighties Ron and Betty
started riding motorcycles and spent all of their vacations on them.
On January 10, 1983 their first grandson was born to Lisa Hunnicutt
in Indianapolis, IN. In July 1983 they and some friends took a trip
from Indianapolis to Nova Scosa Canada. In 1984 Betty found out
that she had a heart problem and had to adjust her life style.
Ron and Betty bought their first new motorcycle in May 1984. In 1985
they road motorcycles to northern Montana with
Charles and Theresa Pritchard who were good friends of thiers. March 1987 Ron and some friends formed a motorcycle club.
They
named it Central Indiana Riders motorcycle club. Ron was elected
as President and stayed in the club for several years. In 1987
Ron & Betty rode Motorcycles to Colorado and visited the area where he
was born. In September, 1987 Ron found out his wife Betty was in
the early stage of Multiple Sclerosis. June 1988 Betty and I
and
Charley and Theresa Pritchard rode their motorcycles to Nashville,
Tenn., New Orleans and Key West, Florida. June 1989 Betty and I and
friends Tom and Chris Collins rode their motorcycles to San Frisco,
California and then on north to Roseburg,
Oregon where
we spent some time with some relatives on my mother's June Kennaday side
of family.
May 1990 Betty and
I bought a house and moved to 3925 Erickson
Court in Indianapolis and moved into it after renting the house they
were living in. They took a Motorcycle trip with friends Bill and Lisa
Brant to Upper Peninsula
of Michigan in June 1990. Anna and Greg Wert gave Ron and Betty their
second grandchild William Gregory Wert on June 25 1991 at
Indianapolis, Indiana. Three days
later June 28, 1991 their third grandson James Michael Asbury was born
to Lisa and Mike Asbury in Lexington, Kentucky. We rode their motorcycle to Cody, Wyoming in
August of 1991 to a bike rally. Ron and Betty rented their home and
bought a house at 3714 Luewan Dr. in Indianapolis and moved into it on
March 1992. My mother June moved in with us in August 1992
Because her house was becoming to much for her to handle. where she lived until March of 2004 when she died after having a
stroke. On December 11, 1994 Anna and Greg Wert gave Betty and Ron their fourth Grand son
Jonathan David Wert. On
September 15th
1997 Ron lost his only son Ronald Jr. to a terrible accident and this
took a lot out of him. In June of 1998 Ron and Betty took a cruise
With Betty’s Brother Terry and wife Karen to Hawaii and toured the
Hawaiian Islands and Fanning Island. In October 2000 Ron and Betty
took a Western Caribbean cruise to visit the Grand Cayman Islands and
Cozumel. In November of 2003 they took a cruise to the eastern
Caribbean Islands.
I retired from the
University on June 31, 2004 at the age of 62.
In November of 2005 Ron and Betty moved to Holiday
Florida and now live at 5608 Riddle Rd. We moved to Florida to enjoy
the nice weather. Betty loves to work in her yard with the flowers and
I love the boating and fishing which I enjoy the most. We
keep a camping trailer at Lake Monroe in Bloomington, Indiana to spend
time with family and friends that live in
Indiana.
In 2008 Ron and Betty started restoring a 27 foot boat that they had.
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