Bob Kelly, 79 of Milford, passed away peacefully at home in the early morning hours on Saturday May 24, 2025. Bob spent his working years at PennDOT where he began his career as a crewman working his way up to foreman, then briefly serving as Pike County assistant superintendent until his retirement. Never one to sit around, Bobby went on to spend another 10 years working with the Luhrs family at their hardware store in Milford.
Bobby was an avid hunter and fisherman. Growing up in Kimbles, he spent his childhood fishing the Lackawaxen River, running trap lines up and down the D&H Canal, and climbing “The Mountain” in Kimbles each year for the traditional family deer hunt.
Bob was an athletic young man and had been both a champion baseball pitcher and soccer player for the Wallenpaupack High School. The day after graduating high school, Bobby drove out to Pittsburgh to try out for the Pirates. Although tryouts went well, his flat feet kept him from the team. Bob raced stock car with his brother George, and in his free time, if not hunting, fishing, or playing sports, Bobby was out on the dirt tracks racing car.
For those who played against him, Bob was an unstoppable wizard at ping pong and amazing to watch. Bob was also an avid bowler and belonged to the Milford Sparkomatic Bowling team among others for many years. He usually held the highest average of the team and was known as the clean-up man. Bob could be found bowling almost every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evening.
Although he loved sports and being outdoors, Bob loved nothing more than his family.
He played the lotto regularly, always dreaming of winning it big for each of them. He’d say “If I win, none of my kids will ever worry about money again.”
Bob had little interest in material things. He cared about the living, from plants, and animals, to people. He loved his friends and his family the most. Bob kept beautiful flowers and vegetable gardens around his home. Passersby would often stop to admire his colorful flower beds. Bob was incredibly neighborly, and friendly. He waved at every car that drove by his home. As the local population swelled and multiplied many times over, Bobby spent a lot of time waving to those who drove by and many reciprocated a wave back!
Bob was a devoted husband, father, brother, friend, and Christian. As a true woodsman and multiple great grandsons of Tom Quick Sr. and other early settlers, Bob enjoyed his solitude and dreamed of living life in a cabin back in the woods and up in the hills. He enjoyed the simple, quiet, and sincerest parts of life the most.
Bob was born March 2, 1946 in Honesdale, Pa. He was the son of George and Celia (Martin) Kelly and he grew up in the village of Kimbles which had been settled by his great, great, great grandfather Ephraim Kimble. Robert married the love of his life, Sharon (Roberts) Kelly in 1967 at the Methodist Church in Milford.