Obituary of Virginia Kelly

Virginia June Kelley, known all her life as "June", passed away on June 4th, 2012 in Cottage Hospital. A Santa Barbara native, she was born in the same hospital on June 9th, 1921, the only daughter among the 3 children of Loyd Amos and Berta Lee Kelley. Her brothers, James and Robert Kelley, both of Santa Barbara, predeceased her. She raised three children during her 22-year marriage to Alvin Main, all of whom survive her: Andrew Main (Santa Fe, NM), Barbara Ward (Port Orange, FL) and Carl Main (La Verne, CA). She is survived by 4 grand children: Sean Boren and Ethan Boren, Lauren de Lucia and Paul Main, and also by 5 great grand children: Brianna and Justin Boren, Joseph and Perry de Lucia, and Beatrice Main. She is remembered with extreme fondness by all and will be sorely missed. June attended SB High School, and then 2 years at UCLA her marriage during WWII. Her husband was a US Navy pilot and academician, so she lived in many places in the US and also in Morocco. In 1964 she returned to live the remaining 48 years of her life in Santa Barbara. Here she had a long career as a secretary and administrative assistant in the Art and Philosophy Departments of UCSB. After retirement, in her 60's, she pursued more college at SBCC in the areas of the natural sciences, especially Astronomy. In 1983 she began a "career" as a volunteer docent at the SB Museum of Natural History where she assisted with the library, sorted and identified a vast collection of land snail shells, and gave planetarium shows for many years. In 1976 she volunteered at Learning Ally (formerly Recording for the Blind), logging a record of nearly 8,000 hours of reading and recording numerous texts, doing so right up to within days of her passing. Ms. Kelley has been a member of the SB Unitarian Church for nearly 70 years, serving on their board as Recording Secretary and President, and also as library chairman. She sang in their choir, and also sang and performed in the SB Choral Society, Oratorio Chorale, Master Chorale, UCSB Repertory Chorus and the Gilbert and Sullivan Theater Company. She was an avid gardener, being known far and wide for her orchids, and a book binder whose rare skills were sought by people all across the US. For such a short woman, she had an enormous stature! Memorial services will be held at the SB Unitarian Church at 3:00pm on Thursday, July 5th. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her name to any of her three favorite charities: Learning Ally (www.learning ally.org/donate), the Unitarian Society of SB (www.ussb.org/joomla/), or the SB Museum of Natural History (www.sbnature.org/).