Lee Kelly at the 70th anniversary celebration of WNAS with two of the many students he impacted as a mentor, teacher, and friend.
Lee Kelly passed away today. He was my teacher, as he was for so many New Albany High School students during nearly 40 years running WNAS, America’s first high school radio station.
I was a high strung kid with more energy than brains, and Lee was a patient man who understood his students even better than he knew radio. Without him, I wouldn’t have had much of a chance at New Albany – or in radio.
Radio is a social medium, and Lee was a social man. Most days, his students sat and talked while playing music for people who ventured to the very left end of the radio dial. He held us accountable for our idiocy without condescension. Some of us took radio a little more seriously than others, but all of us respected Lee’s guidance.
He kicked me out of radio many times as I struggled to learn where the line between harmless silliness and abject irresponsibility existed.
My junior year, we had radio in third period. Lee taught at Floyd Central High School during first and second period, and so we were unsupervised for the first 20 minutes of class. A classmate named David Sappenfield and I would regularly take those 20 minutes to drive to the Honey Creme Donut Shop to grab a dozen maple glazed for the class. It seemed like the kind of thing professional radio people would do.
Obviously, students venturing off campus during class to buy donuts was not a teacher endorsed activity. One day, Lee asked where we got the donuts. I told him we take the time during his drive each morning to grab them. Lee gently told us to stop by appealing to our reason and decency. Sadly, we didn’t have a lot of reason or decency when we were 16. We continued our donut runs, but worked to hide the sweet evidence.
A few weeks went by without incident until one Friday when Lee must have gotten an early start. Sap and I drove past Lee and sheepishly waved as he pulled into the parking lot. We were flat busted but continued to Honey Creme because we had nothing to lose, and we felt a couple of donuts might help mellow Lee’s anger a bit.
We underestimated Lee’s anger while overestimating his love of sweets. When I walked into the radio room and offered Lee a donut, he grabbed a dictionary, threw it at the wall, and barked, “Sterling! Go see Mr. Jensen and see if he can’t find you another class to take third period!”
I didn’t go see Mr. Jensen. If Lee wanted me gone, he was going to have to do it himself. He never did. Again and again, I provided reasons for him to cast me out, and he found reasons to forgive and teach. My level of immaturity was no match for Lee’s fortitude and understanding.
We fell out of touch for decades, but Lee was always in my thoughts as I tried to figure out how I overcame youthful exuberance to become a mostly productive adult, husband, and father.
I finally saw Lee again as New Albany’s basketball team played at Carmel five years ago. For years I thought about what I needed to say to him to express my thanks, and this was my chance. After the game I finally thanked Lee for everything he taught me about radio and life. He smiled through one last silly and unnecessary communication from his student.
Lee helped shepherd over 1,000 students through his radio classes at New Albany High School, and those who needed a firm but kind guiding hand became better adults for his being in their lives. That’s what great teachers do, and Lee was a great teacher.
High school isn’t about just about theorems, Chaucer, Latin, Avogadro’s number, and dangling participles. It’s about learning to live as members of a society and appreciate that the universe doesn’t spin around us. If we’re lucky, a teacher helps ferry us from myopic selfishness to empathetic wholesomeness.
I still have my moments of self-immersion, but Lee helped me migrate through a perilous time when I could easily have wobbled off my precarious perch on a constantly gyrating beam.
Lee has passed on from this place, but his impact will survive generations as his kindness and guidance reverberate through his graduates to those they help and on and on and on.
It’s a shame Lee won’t be around any longer to help others as he helped generations of New Albany students. Expanding his legacy forward falls to his students, and that will mean more than a simple thank you at a basketball game.
Kent, all I can say is I think we all have some of those memories. Lee was a good man and a good friend. He will be missed.
Lee was the reason I went on to receive my communications degree. His recommendations were huge reasons I was hired at the old WRKA and WMPI. I remember when I told him I was getting out of the broadcast biz because my Dad’s health was growing worse and I had a young daughter. I was offered a position in Iowa and just couldn’t take it or travel around the country going from job to job. He said life choices are not always easy but that family should come first. He was a great teacher and friend. I too lost touch with him. He’s with Josh now so I know he’s happy. Prayers and sincere condolences go out to Sally, Dena and the whole family.
Yes. I believe he is with josh. One of you said they were playing ball. That vision gave me a smile. Thanks for the nice words
We will be forever grateful for Lee’s love for teaching and guidance with WNAS when our first introduction for us as a family was when Larra was in his class. Years later, I was blessed to be a member of the NAHS staff,, to have my classroom directly below Lee’s, to be a coffee visitor and to have helped with the election results the last few years (where Lee volunteered his expertise and time). Our family will cherish the fondest of memories of the gentle, knowledge, kind man who chose to share his gift of teaching with so many. Thank you Sally, Dena and family for sharing Lee with us for so many years. The Overton Flatt family.
he did what he loved and we accepted that because it made him happy. He loved his job!
Wonderful note. You should be exceptionally proud of Larra. She represents your family and Lee’s lessons with consistently excellent work. She is respected at the highest level among her peers.