| Daniel Jerome Kelly was born on October 11th 1930 in Michigan, USA. He was son of John and Caroline Kelly and had his roots in Ireland, from where his great-grand-father had emigrated with his family in the middle of the 19th century. Daniel's grand-father was Sean Kelly, a well-known violin player in the Irish community in Boston, Massachusetts. Daniel, called Dan for short, grew up with his parents, seven brothers and two sisters. He became a professor in Latin, Theology and maths. Dan met Joanne and they got four kids together: Danny, Caroline, Kathy and Paul. They lived a modern life in the US, but one day Dan got enough of the American way of life and decided to move to Europe. He wanted his kids to grow up in a safe environment. They moved to Spain where he opened an antique-shop. Barbara Ann Suokko had come across the ocean with them to help with the kids and the shop. Soon Dan and Barbara fell in love and in March of 1967 they got their first kid: John Michael. November 6th 1970, they married in New York, USA. Joanne was out of the picture and went back to the US. The four kids she had with Dan stayed with him. November 1982 Dan lost his beloved wife Barbara in cancer. It was a tremendous loss and shock and suddenly he was alone with 12 kids, with the youngest being only 11 months old. Now he had to be both the mom and the dad, and the kids often called him Mapa. He was a loving and caring father who wanted the best for his kids. He was also a very proud grand- father and was happy about the new generation of little Kellys. Papa Kelly toured along with his kids for many years. In the late 1980 the fans were used to see him in his white long coat walking around on stage with a mike in his hand. In 1990 Dan suffered from his first stroke which paralysed his right side and he was confined to his bed. Thanks to his iron will and discipline, Dan Kelly recovered from his stroke and was able to walk again. 1999 he suffered from a second stroke. This time he never fully recovered and on the 5th of August 2002 he suffered from his third stroke which was a fatal one. On the evening of August 5th 2002, as the sun disappeared from the sky, Papa Kelly closed his eyes forever. 11 of his 12 kids stood around his bed as he took his last breath. For four days and four nights the family had stood by his bed praying and watching over him. In the last months in his life, Dan could barely speak, he was confined to a wheelchair and he needed help round the clock. His last words were "Keep on singing", the same last words his wife said on her deathbed in 1982. Dan was berried August 9th 2002 in Darrara in County Cork, Ireland. A commemoration service was held in the Sankt Maria Himmelsfahrtkirche in Köln (D-Cologne) August 11th 2002. (Written by me) |
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