HUNTINGTON BEACH : Mourning Loss of ‘Real Cowboy’

Mourners paid farewell Thursday to Jack Kelly, a man they remembered for his laughs and loves--of life, family, friends and the city he helped govern.

Kelly, who starred in the Western “Maverick” television series before going into local politics as a Huntington Beach councilman, was portrayed “as a real cowboy” at a memorial service in the amphitheater at City Hall.

“He rode hard, was a straight shooter, loyal as a friend and never backed down from a fight,” said Roger Work, a former executive with the Huntington Beach Co.

“He was a man of many words. Sometimes not all of us could follow them,” Work said.

“He was colorful, controversial and straight-talking,” said Bob Mayer, an owner of the Waterfront Hilton Beach Resort. “He also had one of the greatest vocabularies of anyone I’ve ever known. I kept a dictionary around when I read his articles so that I would know the big words.”

Kelly was publisher of the Huntington Beach News.

Nicole Kelly said her father “always did what he believed was the very best thing. He was my best friend. I loved him more than anything in my life.”

Her father also had a deep love for Huntington Beach, she said. “He said it was the most bitchin’ city there was,” she said.

Kelly, 65, died Saturday, three days after suffering a massive stroke. He suffered a heart attack in April and underwent bypass surgery in May.

He was elected to the City Council in 1980 and 1984 and served two terms as mayor. Voters reelected him to office in 1990. He had been forced to the sidelines for two years by a city regulation barring anyone from serving three consecutive council terms.

About 500 people attended Thursday’s service. Many were former City Council members and employees who were with the city during Kelly’s early years on the council.

“He never let me down,” said Assemblyman Tom Mays (R-Huntington Beach), a former mayor and one of the mourners.

Ruth Finley and Ruth Bailey, also former mayors, paid their respects. Finley said she remembered Kelly’s penchant for having a nickname for nearly everyone. He called Finley and Bailey, who served on the council at the same time, “the Bailey Brothers.”

Finley recalled Kelly’s zeal for solving crossword puzzles. “I never saw him without one in the morning (at City Hall). That was the first thing he would do,” she said.

City Council secretary Pat Jones said she remembers Kelly most for his empathy and for his love of young people. “When teen-agers would come and visit, you could just see Jack beaming in his office,” Jones said.

Kaye MacLeod, who spearheaded bicentennial celebrations in Huntington Beach, said Kelly was “very, very patriotic” and frequently delivered recitations at bicentennial events throughout Orange County. “His voice was great and the kids loved him,” she said.

Vivian Borns, a former director of human services in the city, said she was impressed by Kelly’s kindness to others.

He could have had a superior attitude because he was a celebrity, Borns said, “but he was always building up common people.”