Eugene ” Gene” Lloyd Kelsey died unexpectedly July 20, 2024. He was born 1932 in the Oklahoma oil town of Ponca City during the Depression. His father deserted when he was one year old. He was raised by his mother, Lucille, an oil industry employee and his grandmother, Alma. The Church, school and oil company recreation complex were the center of his early years. Later he moved to Galveston, Texas. There he experienced his first hurricane. After World War II his mother remarried and they returned Oklahoma. Here on a farm, his stepfather, Wayne, was a positive role model teaching him many skills and the importance of building character. While in the country, he rode a horse to a one room building where he was schooled in a class of twelve. Later, his mother and grandmother returned to Tulsa where he graduated in 1950 from Tulsa Central High with a class of eight hundred. In high school, he worked in a laundry and purchased a motorcycle which was his pride and joy. There, he had a special group of friends that he stayed in touch with over the years. In 1950 the Korean War started.

Many of his classmates died in the war. He joined the Air Force and became a radar technician. Gene was asked to go into pilot training but he elected to leave the Air Force and go to college on the GI bill. After graduation, with an engineering degree, he was hired by General Dynamics, Fort Worth, Texas to work on the B58 development program. But in 1962, he decided to move to NASA Langley Research Center to become a part of the newly organized group of professionals working on the “President Kennedy Race to Space” projects. Gene co-authored publications and was awarded a few patents. He often said that joining the military and working for NASA were his best career decisions. Education was very important. He had a number of degrees- undergraduate and graduate. He supported friends, peers, family members, and employees in obtaining college degrees. This included both financial and moral support. He was also an adjunct professor of math and electronics at area colleges. Gene had two biological children, Michele and Chet, from whom he was separated at times. He enjoyed sharing memories of their early childhood. He cared deeply for them. He had four other “kids”, a much younger half- brother, nieces and nephews. He loved good food, jokes, puzzles, the ocean, music, his afternoon rum-n-coke and life in general. Gene retired and moved to Williamsburg twenty-five years ago with his wife, Mary, to live the good life. He sold his small boat due his sun exposure skin cancers but afterward traveled the world aboard big boats. He treated everyone with respect. No task was too difficult for him to undertake. He lived a full happy life and was a blessing to all that knew him.

Gene, your friends and family miss your caring ways and will always remember you.