Memorial

Peggy Dean Kelley, 91, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, died Monday, July 23, 2018 at Mercy Hallmar in Cedar Rapids. 

Funeral services will be held 11:00 a.m. on Friday, July 27, 2018 at Immanuel Baptist Church officiated by Rev. Dan Wiersema.  Visitation will take place one hour prior to the service at the church.  Interment will be held at Cedar Memorial Park Cemetery.

Peggy was born in the Baptist Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee on May 27, 1927.  Her parents were Cornelia (Neeley) and William Dean Gassaway.  She graduated from Humes High School in Memphis, Tennessee (before Elvis).  She was employed by Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.  She married Dan Kelley at the Alameda Naval Air Station Chapel in Alameda, California on June 26, 1953.

She is survived by her husband of 65 years, Dan; two daughters, Julie Ann Brantley (Mike) and Terri Lynn Lester (Scott), six grandchildren, Kari Hughes (Evan), Kelli Purdin (Travis), Taylor Brantley (Kendall), Daniel Lester (Desiree), Andrew Lester and Erin Lester, and five great-grandchildren, Jack, Ki, Claire, Alyssa, and Kinley, and one sister, Alice Flores of Santa Ana, California and several nieces and nephews.

Peggy was preceded in death by her parents; sisters, Martha Brown (Waldo), Dorothy Carter (Harry), and one brother, Dean Gassaway.

Peggy was a well-trained and committed teacher in the three and four-year-old Sunday school class for over fifty years.  She also loved to travel and visited more than thirty countries, ten of twelve Canadian Provinces and all fifty US states.  The whole family enjoyed a tradition of one week on the beaches of St. George Island in Florida for many years.  It started with about seven family members but grew over the years to as many as twenty.  She was also an avid collector of figurines.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to Immanuel Baptist Church, 1900 F Avenue NW, Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52405.