Our neighbor Mr. Lloyd Kelly was eulogized today at Hudson's funeral home & laid to rest in the new VA cemetery in Dixon. I'd never seen a photo of him as a young man before. He looks confident & optimistic in the one above & from all the evidence, it seems like he was a good man who lived a good life. He served as a demolitions expert in the Pacific during World War 2, then worked at the Naval Weapons Station for 30 years, the State of California for 10 & in the private sector for another 12 before finally retiring just a couple years before I met him.

He had a sharp sense of humor, didn't mince words about other people's foibles & often made me laugh. Somewhere along the line he lost a leg, but that didn't seem to slow him down much.

He was 83 when he died, so he must have been 76 when I first met him. This photo below shows him with his wife (of 52 years!) Marion Louise Millon Kelly, and was probably taken when he was about 80. This was the Mr. Kelly that I knew.

The new VA cemetery has only been open a couple of years & is still a very bleak place. The photo above makes it look sooooo much nicer than it really is. Eventually it is supposed to be large & verdant & peaceful, but right now it is just a hot, dusty lot with inadequate facilities. The soldier who played "Taps" did a very nice job of it though.

The sole "shelter" that's available for final services & military honors is barely larger than a bus stop.

Mr. Kelly's coffin being carried from hearse into the shelter.