Earskine Teddi Kelley and Betty Agnes Kelley
Earskine Teddi Kelley, 91, and his wife Betty Agnes (Goeppert) Kelley, 84, died together in a traffic accident Dec. 14 near their Inks Lake home of 45 years.
Earskine Kelley was born Feb. 25, 1919, in West Virginia to Pearl Milton Kelley and Emmitt Kelley. His wife was born Jan. 12, 1926, in Niesse, Germany.
He was raised in a coal-mining community, working in the mine with other family members when he was a teenager. He joined the Army as a young man and was stationed in Germany.
She was raised in Niesse and was a refugee from the Dresden bombings during World War II. She achieved a full school education with two additional years of business classes.
They met while she worked at the Army post exchange in Germany. They married soon after.
They had their only child while stationed at Bad Nauheim, Germany, in 1954 and soon traveled back to the United States to Fort Hood, where Earskine Kelley was a drill sergeant. She opened the first German-American restaurant in the Buchanan Dam area.
He retired from the Army as a master sergeant in 1959 as the restaurant continued to grow.
Their success in the restaurant business was well known across Texas. Hill Country residents including President Lyndon Baines Johnson and Lady Bird Johnson loved eating at the restaurant.
They Kelleys were well loved in the Inks Lake and Burnet community. In 1978 they retired from the restaurant.
Survivors include son the Rev. Alexander E. Kelley and wife Kathleen of Denton; grandson Erich Kelley and wife Jessica of League City; granddaughter Kate and husband Matthew Lennox of The Woodlands; great-granddaughter Addison Jane Kelley; and nieces and nephews in Germany.
They both were preceded in death by their parents and siblings.
A memorial service was Dec. 17 at the Clements-Wilcox Funeral Home, 306 Texas 29 East in Burnet, (512) 756-2222, with their son officiating. In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made to the Salvation Army or to the Wounded Warrior Project at woundedwarriorproject.org.
Condolences may be e-mailed to aek_alex@yahoo.com or mailed to Alex Kelley, 2212 Stonegate Drive, Denton, TX 76205.