The Kelley's Place

My beautiful Aunt Ellen has suffered several health setbacks this past year and I’ve been able to go and visit her frequently. She may be old, but her mind and memory are sharp as a tack! The Other night I asked her about her dating history and how she met her husbands. The story that followed was heartbreaking, but I feel like it’s absolutely worth sharing. Here is the story:

 Aunt Ellen was dating a young man in the early 40’s when she met his nephew. He was about her age, she was 19 and he was in his very early 20’s. They fell deeply in love almost instantly and were married not long after. She got married in the Magistrates office. While they were both LDS, he shortly thereafter and she a while before, they were never sealed in the temple. She wanted a baby so badly and luckily, she conceived not long after they were wed in 1942. She was in the middle of her pregnancy when he was drafted to the second world war and shipped to the Philippines. She missed him terribly and he never made it back home. He was killed in action and buried in a memorial grave yard. She still has a picture of the cemetery in her room. His name was Grady and his son he never met is his namesake.

In 1952 she married a man named Jack and while he was very much in love with her, she was never that in love with him. In her words, she did “a disservice marrying that man”. She is and always will be in love with that young man who left his world too soon .

This is my mom and Aunt Ellen