Mr. Gregory Eugene "Gene" Kelly

Gregory Eugene (Gene) Kelly was born on January 19th, 1914 in Henderson Settlement, the fifth of seven children of Michael and Martha (Kreutz) Kelly. He started his education at a one room schoolhouse; the family later moved to Norton in 1923 and he began his working life on farms and in the woods.

Gene began his career in the transportation industry around 1930, hauling gravel with a team of horses to build and repair roads. During the Depression, with little work and little or no money, the wintertime provided jobs in the woods with horses, hauling logs to wood yards or to the saw mills. In 1934, Gene worked part of the year at a mill preparing slab wood which was loaded onto a truck to be hauled to the rivers for water transportation to Saint John, N.B. for firewood. He remembered the steam paddle wheelers that used to ply our bigger rivers hauling passengers and freight. He worked on a crew loading gravel onto trucks by hand and in 1937 bought a new Ford dump truck thinking that it should be easier to drive one than to load one. In 1936, he also took a seasonal job with the J. Hoffert Co. as a Christmas tree shipper. He organized the buying and hauling of trees to be loaded onto ships and boxcars for export to the U.S.A., he did this for 10 years and used his Ford with a flat bottom to haul from the yards. He also believed he was the first one in eastern Canada to truck Christmas trees to the U.S.A.; hauling to New York in 1948. Again, winter provided work, hauling ice from lakes to icehouses and also logs, pulpwood and lumber. He spent many years working around the province, hauling on the road building jobs and always tried to have as good as–or better trucks than others. Gene secured a job hauling milk in 1957 starting with a 1956 I.H.184. He hauled to three dairies about 50 miles away. The trucks he used on this job, until he finished in 1969, were tandem axle using a twenty-foot body, the cans were 8 gallons, weighing about 100 pounds and were stacked three tiers high with 120 cans to a tier. It was 1957 before the Trans Canada Highway was completed through Sussex, New Brunswick, thus providing a road with bridges adequate for tractor trailers. In mid 1969, Gene was one of the first around Sussex to haul with trailers, hauling wood chips, lumber and pulpwood. In 1975, he was successful in bidding a 5 year Federal Mail contract, hauling mail nightly from Moncton, N.B. to St. Stephen, N.B. and switching trailers with a U.S contractor who hauled from Bangor, Maine to the St. Stephen, N.B. border crossing. Gene was one of the founders of Kingsco Transport. Over the years, he owned many trucks: 20 Internationals, 2 Whites, 3 Kenworths, 3 Fords, 4 Chevs and the last one was a 1989 Peterbilt which he bought at age 75. In 1978, Gene and Graham flew to Vancouver to pick up the first new Kenworth. Three years later, in the fall of 1981, Gene and Rick flew out to pick up the second one. The last Kenworth was built in Quebec so there wasn’t another coast to coast trip. Gene’s favorite truck was a 1946 KS-7 International which led him in the fall of 1997 to purchase a 1948 KB-8 International in the state of Connecticut which was transported home by his youngest son, Rick. This began a lengthy restoration process by Andrew Geldart of Parkindale, N.B. At one point, Gene was told by Andrew that he would need to put the truck to work hauling wood to pay for the restoration to which Gene replied, as only he could, “by the time you finish this truck there won’t be any wood to haul”. The finished project became his pride and joy. He attended numerous shows and the truck was shown as far away as Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. While trucking, Gene also had a farm where he and his family raised purebred Hereford cattle until 1981. He kept busy with many interests: beekeeping, growing Christmas trees and doing crossword puzzles. He enjoyed hot air balloons and had several flights while in his 80’s. He enjoyed: “The Price Is Right”, humming birds and visits from family and friends. He was well known for his well kept, productive vegetable gardens. He even harvested his own garden this past fall. Gene left this earth Wednesday, November 29th, as he would have wished, working in his back yard.

Gene is survived by his wife, Millie (Madden); his children: Juanita Guptill and her husband, Dwayne of Lower Millstream, Winnie Sharp and her husband Gary of Sussex Corner, Ron Kelly and Liz of Roachville, Graham and his wife Juanita of Millbrook, Gordie and his wife Brenda of Apohaqui, Rick and his wife Penny of Knightville, Ken Kelly, Jean Meehan; and their mother, Mary Gregg all of Vermont, USA; 20 grandchildren: Colin, Krista, Julie, Kim, Greg, Patrick, Andrew, Anthony, Shawn, Trevor, Shane, Nathan, Tania, John, Brad, Sheri, Greg, Rick, Tracy and Hilary; 10 great grandchildren: Aidan, Keegan, Kelly, Nicholas, Megan, Colin, Alicia, Erica, Brianna and Sean; as well as several nieces and nephews.

Gene was the last surviving member of his family. He was predeceased by two infant children; 4 brothers: Francis, Walter, Fred and Gerald; 2 sisters: Joey Bodnar and Marie Ker.

Arrangements are entrusted to the care of Wallace Funeral Home, 34 Sunnyside Drive, Sussex, (506-433-1176), with visitation on Saturday 2-4, 7-9 and Sunday 2-4, 7-9 pm. The Funeral Service will be held from Wallace Community Chapel on Monday, December 4, 2006 at 10:00 am with the interment at Evergreen Memorial Park.