Opal L. (McCarty) Kelley

Opal Louise McCarty Kelley, 86, passed away on December 14, 2020, at Johnson Mathers Nursing Home.  

Born September 19, 1934, in Nicholas County, Kentucky to the late Sherman & Ethel Sorrell McCarty, she was a 1953 graduate of Nicholas County High School and a graduate of Fugazzi Business College.  She retired from the Federal Bureau of Prisons in 1984 and, after retirement, she co-owned Kelley’s Restaurant with her son, Bobby, and later worked as an EMT for the Nicholas County EMS. In retirement, she was actively involved in the Nicholas County Democratic Women’s Club and the Nicholas County Hospital Auxiliary. She was an active member of the Carlisle Christian Church, where she agitated and was agitated by her special friend, Bro. Steve Smith.

Opal was well known for being a provider to her friends & family– a provider of love, support, food, and advice, none of which had to be solicited.  Her recipes were a lot like her advice, just enough dashes of guidance so that the recipient could figure it out on their own. (We’re still trying to figure out her spaghetti sauce). 

She loved to visit and never met a stranger; she enjoyed cutting up or talking politics with anybody, and the conversation would end just as it started - as a talk among friends. It is the hope of all who loved her that she leave that last quality here, with all of us - we need it, desperately, today. 

Surviving are one son: Bobby (Carla) Kelley; two grandchildren: Christopher (Estefania) Kelley and Dustin Robinson; a great-granddaughter, Lola Kelley-Fernandez; and two sisters: Sophia Miller and Wilma Donovan, as well as several cousins.  

Also preceding her in death were her 3 brothers - Ray, Charles & Marvin McCarty, and 3 sisters: Josephine Westfall, Maxine Henning Smoot & Wanda Martin. 

Due to the pandemic, services will be private.  Like so many who have passed away during this time, Opal deserved better than she got in her passing. For her generation, sacrifice for the greater good was a way of life; it is fitting then, that even her interment services are a final act of selflessness to protect us all. To say we miss her seems too little; to say we are lost without her seems over-dramatic, and she liked neither triviality nor frivolity. She was our heart and our rock, and even her diminishment at the end of life will never dampen our memory of this vibrant, formidable woman. We will speak of her as she was, until we can speak no more ourselves; in each of us who knew her, she will live forever. 

A private funeral service by Rev. Steve Smith will be held at 2:00 P.M. Wednesday, December 23, 2020 at Mathers-Gaunce Funeral Home with burial to follow in Carlisle Cemetery. The service will be available for live-streaming on the Mathers-Gaunce Funeral Home’s Facebook page.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Opal L. (McCarty) Kelley, please visit our floral store.