The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • A11

TENNESSEAN.COM THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2020 11A NASHVILLE Everett Edward Kelley, passed away at his residence in Nashville on Tuesday, the 31st of December 2019, after a brief illness at the age of 92. Preceded in death by his wife, Eleanor Clark Kelley; his parents, Mary Palmer Wade Sperry of Nash- ville, Tennessee, and Everett Edward Kelley, M.D. of Owensboro, Kentucky and Suwanee, Georgia; by his only sibling, James Palmer Kelley; and his brother-in-law, George Crook, of Nashville. Mr. Kelley was a descendant of the Joseph Philips family who settled in Nashville in 1791, one of the First Families of Tennessee.

Born in 1927, Everett Kelley spent his childhood with his devoted grandparents, Josephine andAltonWade, and uncle, James Wade, at his family home in Belle Meade and at the farmhouse in Smyrna, Tennessee, that his family moved to in 1931. He attended Parmer School, McCallie School in Chattanooga, and Peabody Demonstration School with his future wife but enlisted in the Navy as a Naval Aviator in November 1945, before graduating from high school in 1946. He served in Fighting Squadron Sixty-Three, the first squadron to fly F4U Corsair planes, and operated off of the U.S.S. Boxer, the U.S.S.Valley Forge and the U.S.S. Phillipine Sea.

Mr. Kelley served in the Korean War, joined the Naval Reserves, and was honorably discharged from the Naval Reserves in 1983. Mr. Kelley graduated from Vanderbilt University in March 1953, with a degree in Geology. He married Eleanor Wills Clark of Nashville just after graduation and secured his first job as a Time andMotion Engineer forMays Hosiery Mill in Nashville.

Later he worked at WSM-TV, soon moving over to the National Life and Accident Insurance Company, where he had a long career.He retired early in 1977, having been an early computer programmer and later an officer in the personnel department. As he had wide-ranging intellectual interests, he pursued his Degree in Education from George Peabody College atVanderbilt University, which he received in 1958, and also graduated in 1979 from the YMCANight Law School in Nashville. While a Nashville resident, he was a familiar figure at gun shows, fleamar- kets, antique shops, andmost of all, at Goodwill Stores.He was a connoisseur of WorldWar II arms and weapons, silver, porcelain, and gems. In 1997, the Kelleys sold their Brentwood, Tennessee, farm and moved to Mississippi, where two of his daughters lived, but returned to Tennessee in 2005. Mr.Kelley was actively involved inNashville with Tennessee GunCollectors, Junior Achievement, and was a longtime Red Cross donor.

InMississippi, he enjoyed spending time at the Rescue Squad and Flowood Library. He was a ham radio operator, an avid reader, especially of military history, and a world traveler who particularly enjoyed Alaska, Costa Rica and theVirgin Islands. Survivors include six children: Craig (Mrs. Ken Adkisson) of Franklin, Tennessee; Josephine (Mrs. John Darwin III), Alton (Sheree Rose Kelley); Jessie Kelley; and Ed Kelley (Mandy Brown Kelley) all of Nashville; and Phoebe (Mrs.

Stephen Kruger, Sr.) of is also survived by his sisters-in-law, Shirley (Kelley) Boone of Asheville, North Carolina; Em Crook; and Phoebe Nischan and brother-in-law, Marvin Nischan, all of Nashville; by 14 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren, as well as by 3 nieces and 4 nephews. Visitation with the family will be Saturday, January 11th, at the home of Alton Kelley, 637 Belle Park TN 37205 from Funeral service and burial will be private.Memorial contributionsmay be made to the City of Flowood Fire Department, Emergency Rescue Service, 511Vine Street, 39232, or to the G.Chastaine FlyntMemorial Library at 103Winners Circle, Flowood, MS 39232 Everett Edward Kelley NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE Age 87, of Nashville, fought a long hard battle and stepped into the heav- enly presence of his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on Sunday, January 5, 2020. Harvey was born February 26, 1932, in Memphis, to the late Louis Dewitt and Ada Mae Smith Cum- mings. He is preceded in death by two brothers Louis Francis and Edgar Lee Cummings and two sisters Mae Louise Powell and Laura Virginia Wyatt. He is survived by his wife, Helen King Cummings, the love of his life; sister, Anita Grace Blakley; neph- ews Louis Dotson (Sue) and Jeff Wyatt (Anita); nieces Kathy Cummings Alford, Judy Cummings Lee, June Haile (Kenneth), Laura Taylor (Mike); King family--brother-in-law, Kenneth King (Anne) and sister-in-law, Lois King as well as many nieces and nephews-in-law; Godchild, Campbell Garber.

Harvey was a graduate of Humes High School in Memphis with B. S. and M.S. degrees in Accounting from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. He was a veteran of the US Army, serving at the end of the Korean War in Seoul, Korea.

He began his accounting career with General Electric in Schenectady, NY then to Cincinnati. Homesick for the south, he began his 26-yr career with South Central Bell (now as Operations Manag- er-Cost Accounting. After retirement, he became a Discussion Leader in the Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) for 13 years. He enjoyed his fitness program at Dayani Center and worked with the exceptional staff and friends who encouraged each other to exercise and to achieve the best quality of life even through illness and disabilities. He was our hero, friend, mentor, and a true Southern Gentleman.

Harvey was a member of Christ Presbyterian Church and will be re- membered for his gentle smile, gracious ways, and loving-kindness with a passion for the Bible and as prayer leader for Kingdom Seekers Sunday School class for 16 years. Visitation with the family will be from four until seven in the evening Thursday, January 9, 2020, Woodlawn-Roesch Patton Funeral Home. Inter- ment will be at ten in the morning, Friday, Woodlawn Cemetery. A Memorial Service will be conducted eleven-thirty in the morning on Friday, January 10, 2020, Christ Presbyterian Church with Dr. Charles McGowan officiating.

Pallbearers will be family and friends. His family requests memorial contributions be made to Christ Presby- terian Church, The Benevolence Fund, 2323 Old Hickory Nashville, TN 37215, and wants to express their gratitude for the many expressions of kindness, caring, compassion, and helpfulness during extend- ed illness with special thanks to Dr. Hyatt D. Sutton, staff of Woodcrest at Blakeford, caregivers of Brookdale Green Hills, and Insa Dabo. Harvey was the light of morning at sunrise on a cloudless morning, like the brightness after rain that brings the grass from the Condolences may be offered by Harvey Ray Cummings NASHVILLE parted this life on January 6, 2020.

Preceded in death by her husband, How- ard Spray, parents Claude Lee and Ollie Morgan Holt, son Herbert Spray (Fran- ces), siblings Annie Mae Holt Pewitt, Ada Lee Holt Sullivan, Wi- ley Claude Holt Jr, Wil- liam Edward Holt and Marine Corporal Kirby Howlett Holt. Survived by son, Howard and Barbara Spray, daughter Diana and George Mullen, grandchildren Kathy (Randy) Gaidos, Fern (JJ) Ferguson, Jennifer (Nate) Goodrich, Sacha Spray(Jerry Upchurch), great-grandchildren, Nathan Gaidos, Nikki (Josh) Joslin, Ashton Crutchfield, Ethan Goodrich, Mackenzie Lewis, Collin Lewis, great- great-grand- children Isabella and Sophia Joslin and her precious Dachshund, Rusty. A Life Celebration will be held 11am, Friday, January 10th. Visitation will be 4-8pm, Thursday and 10-11am, Friday at Harpeth Hills Funeral Home 9090 Hwy 100, Nashville, TN, 37221 harpethhills.com Ollie Odell Holt Spray OAKLAND, Calif. Some California lawmak- ers said they support a group of homeless wom- en who have been illegal- ly living in a vacant three- bedroom house since No- vember, partly to protest real estate speculators who drive up housing costs in the pricey San Francisco Bay Area.

Moms 4 Housing, a collective recently formed to support the Oakland women, inter- rupted a press conference on legislation to boost housing construction Tuesday at City Hall, shouting housing want to thank Moms 4 Housing for taking that house and for demon- strating that nowhere, nowhere should there be a vacant house anywhere in California when we have the housing crisis that we said Dem- ocratic Sen. Nancy Skin- ner of Berkeley. it was totally legitimate for those homeless moms to take over that The women took over the home after they said they were unable to permanent housing in the Bay Area, where high- paying tech jobs have ex- acerbated income in- equality and a housing shortage. They also say protesting real es- tate developers who snap up distressed homes, then leave them empty. They are awaiting a nal ruling from a judge on whether they can stay, though Alameda County Superior Court Judge Patrick McKinney has tentatively ruled in favor of the property owner, Wedgewood a Re- dondo Beach-based real estate investment group that bought the home in a foreclosure auction last year.

Dominique Walker, 34, who has 1- and 5-year-old daughters, said she moved back to her native Oakland from Mississip- pi last year but could not a place to live in the pricey market. She said many of the people who used to live in her neigh- borhood have been forced out by rising prices. is a human right. I pay bills there. I pay water, inter- net.

We live Walk- er said. want to pur- chase the home it needs to belong back in the hands of the commu- nity. It was stolen through the foreclosure The company bought the home for $501,000 and took possession days after the women moved in, said Sam Singer, a spokesman for Wedge- wood. The 1908 house has one bathroom and is about 1,500 square feet. owns this home, and these squatters have broken into it, illegally oc- cupying it, and that is not the right thing to do.

simply Singer said Tuesday. is really a case about a group of people taking the law into their own Lawyers for Walker ar- gued in court last week that housing is a right and the court should allow the women to possess the house, particularly be- cause it was vacant for a long time and the alterna- tive would be to send them to the streets. Assemblyman Ash Kalra, a Democrat from San Jose, said Tuesday that elected need to ensure landlords and corporate our homes Many Oakland resi- dents say they are being pushed to the fringes of the Bay Area as they struggle to keep pace with housing costs. Federal said last month that an uptick in the homeless population was driven entirely by a increase in California, where the median sales price of a home is $500,000. higher in the San Francis- co Bay Area.

The situation is so dire that Democratic Gov. Ga- vin Newsom approved a statewide rent cap on some properties. Yet there are four va- cant homes for every homeless person in Oak- land, said Leah Simon- Weisberg, an attorney for Alliance of Californians for Community Empow- erment, which is helping the mothers in court. The empty eyesores are in devastated, pre- dominantly minority neighborhoods, she said, adding that developers like Wedgewood the property, they kick the people out who are in it, and they sell Singer said Wedge- wood buys distressed properties, hires local workers to up the homes and sells them, hopefully to homebuyers. He said the company wants to start renovating the house so that family can join the ranks of home- owners of He said the company will continue with eviction proceedings against the women if the judge rules in the favor.

Homeless squatters gain support in Calif. Judge has tentatively ruled in property favor Sharena Thomas, left, Carroll Fife, center, Dominique Walker, second from right, and Tolani KIng, right, stand outside a vacant home. KATE VIA AP Terence Chea and Juliet Williams ASSOCIATED PRESS.