Thomas Brian Kelly, 103, died Saturday morning, July 11, 2026 at his home in Crossville, TN. His wife of 30 years, Kathleen, was at his side during many nights, and held his hand as he relinquished a final, gentle breath.

Tom and his twin brother, Ed, were born to Dennis and Olive (Santini) Kelly on December 2, 1922, in Key West, FL, part of the third generation of the family born in Key West. In 1925, Dennis and Olive herded their 9 children with all their belongings aboard a waiting schooner and sailed north, to Punta Rassa, south of Ft Myers, and at the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River. Olive’s brother, Leonard was farming potatoes in the Iona area, to the east of Punta Rassa, and Dennis brought the family there to begin his life as a potato farmer, and for their children to begin their lives in the connected, but very different culture of Ft Myers.

Though Tom and Ed were very young when they left Key West, their older siblings were raised in what can only be described as a wild, rough & tumble outpost, with Cuba as close as mainland Florida, and the island harboring many ships, and many more sailors happy to spend time, money and more than a little blood in the bars. The family was steeped in that island culture; the children thus entitled with the birthrights of agency and freedom, even a responsibility to roam, to explore, as if the reality of the island’s physical limits demanded the utmost diligence to know this bit of coral and sand. It was only an island, after all.

Tom lived this spirit the rest of his life; racing boats and fishing in the Caloosahatchee River, gathering clams and oysters amidst the sublime beauty of the estuarine waters and mangrove lined creeks and bays and islands that spread out from the mouth of the river to Sanibel and Captiva Islands and beyond. The pristine sands of Ft Myers Beach were wide open for roaming, the island being sparsely settled in those years. He was an engineer at heart, and a little on the wild side, taking his ideas to fruition with an amazing degree of hard work and resourcefulness, making do with whatever was at hand to build whatever came to mind; a wonderful model dragline with a hand-cranked boom & bucket, splitting an old fuel tank to make a boat, taking a skiff out to Mound Key, the ancient shell mound left by the Calusa Indians, used by settlers over the decades for a staging area in the back bay of Ft Myers Beach, where he, and his brother Ed salvaged anything made of metal to load up and bring to a scrap dealer, making a few dollars to spend on the next project. The learning was direct, and unforgiving, and Tom always kept going, without regard to the outcome. There was little money in the family, and Tom and his siblings saw the great depression come and go with little notice in their lives. Free though they were, tragic losses took a toll on their lives; in particular for Tom and Ed, when Alan, a younger brother with whom they both were very close, was killed in a hunting accident; that loss weighed on Tom for the rest of his life.

After a stint working for the Post Office, Tom joined with Ed to begin their lives as farmers, growing potatoes and the occasional watermelon crop. Farming is nothing, if not a host of challenges, many of them demanding thoughtful engineering, and both brothers responded with a number of pole barns over the years, irrigation gates, modified farm equipment, a new, more advanced design for a spray cart, a design for a machine to clear palmetto roots & rocks when land needed clearing, to mention just some of their accomplishments.

Even as Tom aged, becoming a husband and father, he seemed to never have left the boy behind; he took his family fishing, snorkeling and spearfishing, even heroically endeavored to “park” the boat right where our mother, Betty wanted to drop her line to fish. He brought us to the Keys, and his love of the water, and sense of the freedom it encouraged had a deep and lasting impact on us all.

It was this boyish excitement to share his experiences that brought he and his children to a very tall pine tree reaching up from the salt flats south of Iona. High in the tree, where the trunk had branched, creating the perfect place for an enormous eagle’s nest, and Tom’s opportunity to share a very special experience. He shimmied up the tree, slung some ropes, and managed to get his children up into the nest with him, and witness to the exhilarating sight, a 360° vista unlike anything we had seen before.

The last chapter of Tom’s life began with a courtship with his soon to be wife, Kathleen. Eventually, she decided to leave the convent in order to marry the man with whom she shared deep friendship and growing love. Married November 11, 1995, they were inseparable, and enjoyed each other immeasurably; the romance never flagged, and the years that ensued were some of his happiest. Tom danced more in the next few years than he had in all his preceding years together. Kathleen remained active in her pastoral role, and Tom spent time in his small shop, turning out two amazing pontoon boats, one named “Goin Bananas” and powered by pedaling.

Tom was predeceased by his wife of 43 years, Betty, mother of their six children. He was also predeceased by his parents, his twin brother, Ed (May 17, 2015), and their brothers and sisters, Conrad Kelly, Sister lrma Kelly, Emmett Kelly, Dorothy Berry, Cecelia Hastings, Everett Kelly, Nick Kelly, Alan Kelly, and Joyce Rauth.

Still celebrating Tom’s life are his wife, Kathleen (D Wagner) Kelly, his sister Patty Nott, his children: Teri Kelly, Debra Simpson, Brian Kelly, Blane Kelly, Barry Kelly and Denise Kelly. And there are many grandchildren and great-grandchildren; Teri’s children: Eric A Sumner and his wife, Julie, both deceased, Ryan T Sumner and his wife, Meylisa, Andrew M Sumner, deceased, and his wife, Jenna; Teri’s grandchildren: Tessia J Sumner, Kamron M Sumner and his wife, Kaitlyn, Lane E Sumner, Morgan S Sumner, Rory F Sumner, Caleb J Sumner, Ayden K Sumner, Nathaniel M Sumner; Debra, and her husband Tommy’s children: Karl T Simpson Ill and his wife, Katie, Megan Marie Sulton and her husband, Jake, and Kelly Tyler Simpson and his wife, Kelly; Debra and Tommy’s grandchildren: Karl Thomas Simpson IV, Korbin Tyler Simpson, Emma Marie Sulton, Kora Kai Sulton, Kellen Taylor Simpson, Kooper Theodore Simpson and Kampbell Tyler Simpson; Blane and his wife, Barbara’s children: Brittany and her husband, JC Alves, Blane Kelly, Jr and his wife, Alison, and Brandon and his wife, Sarah; Blane and Barbara’s grandchildren: Jackson, Jayden and Kayla, Evelyn, Blane III, Carter and Caleb.

Tom also leaves behind multiple generations of the Wagner family (the in-laws) who have loved him and all of the Kelly family stories for more than 30 years; “For Tom’s life and love, we are grateful.” Within the community Tom and Kathleen have lived for many years, there are many friends who have loved and supported them all along, and will miss his friendship and good humor.

Funeral arrangements have been made by Bilbrey Funeral Home, 76 East Adams St, Crossville, TN 38555

Services will be held at St Alphonsus Catholic Church, 151 St Alphonsus Way, Crossville, TN 38555.