Brian Kelly (OW 1954)

(14 February 1936 – 4 January 2021)

In January MCS was informed that Major Brian Kelly, father of Tim Kelly (OW 1977), had died aged 84.

On leaving MCS, Brian joined the army, enjoying a successful career as a Major in the Royal Artillery, working in Germany during the Cold War. He later moved back to the UK, and left the armed forces in 1979 to work as a Quality Assurance Manager for Marconi Space & Defence Systems in Frimley, where he and his wife Lorna bought their first house, then retiring in 1997. In 2015 Brian and Lorna moved to Windsor to be nearer their daughter Karen and her family. Brian very much enjoyed being nearer the Chapel Royal at Windsor Castle, having become a visitor steward there in 2006, spending several afternoons a month welcoming and helping visitors and answering questions on its history.
Brian had a life-long passion for learning which he always attributed to MCS. He never saw catastrophe in an academic or career flop but as an opportunity – to discover something new that might bring fulfilment. He always laughed about spending so much time on the playing fields that he only achieved one A level – claiming even that was a bit of a fluke!

His daughter Karen describes how he was highly thought of as a colleague and as a husband, father, grandfather and friend. In all these roles he had a huge and positive impact because of his integrity, his kindness, his sense of adventure, his wide and varied interests and his very optimistic outlook on life.