Memories of Fallen Classmate Ken Kelley ’66 Inspire Scholarship Giving

News of a missing plaque honoring Kendrick King Kelley III ’66 stirred up powerful memories for his fellow alumni, prompting two to start a fund in his name and dozens more to return to the Law School to remember their friend.

The plaque was discovered missing when John Nathan ’67 visited the Lillian Goldman Law Library during his 50th reunion to show his wife the engraved tribute to his third-year roommate, who was killed in the Vietnam War. Kelley, known as Ken, had joined the Army ROTC as an undergraduate at Davidson College, reporting for duty after law school graduation. Turning down the Pentagon assignment that his law training afforded him, he requested to join the infantry instead and was stationed at Can Tho in the Mekong Delta. He then volunteered to serve on night helicopter raids as an intelligence officer there, directing the location of attacks. During the Tet Offensive, his aircraft was caught in an ambush, killing all on board. Several years after his death, his family arranged for a memorial plaque to be placed in the library.

But the plaque had apparently been lost during a library renovation. A search ensued when Nathan emailed Dean Heather Gerken about the plaque, but even longtime librarians could not recall seeing it. Nathan was so moved by the efforts to find the item, which would ultimately be replaced, that he told John Duff ’66, also a good friend of Kelley. Nathan and Duff then had the idea to start a scholarship fund in their friend’s memory. They got two other classmates, Carolyn Jones ’66 and Al Rankin ’66, to sign a letter with them, asking other alumni from Kelley’s time at the School to contribute. More than 40 friends, family, and classmates donated to the Ken Kelley ’66 Memorial Scholarship Fund.

On February 2, 2019, exactly 51 years after Kelley’s death, his family and friends gathered at the Law Library for the installation of the new plaque. More than 30 people attended, including Kelley’s sister, brother, alumni from as far away as Alaska, and five current Law School students who are veterans. Gerken, former Dean Guido Calabresi, and alumni offered remarks. Friends recalled Kelley as someone of high energy and high achievement, a person of remarkable warmth who loved the law and his many friends.

“Ken was one of those rare individuals who had a zest for life at its fullest and a zeal for excellence at its highest,” James E. Farnham ’66 wrote in a remembrance compiled for the occasion. “We all know a few people who get a kick out of life and yet seem to have that inexhaustible exuberance that permits them routinely to put more into their relationships with others than they take away.”

The first scholarship from the fund will be awarded during the 2019–2020 academic year.