* Don Lelo Ely; Ex-Navy Commander

Don Lelo Ely, a retired Navy commander, has died at age 83.

Ely died Aug. 3 at Pleasant Valley Hospital in Camarillo. He was born Aug. 28, 1916, in Maquoketa, Iowa. He was a great-great-grandson of Ulysses S. Grant.

After high school, he attended Los Angeles City College and received an associate of arts degree, before going to USC as a premed student.

While a student, Ely joined the Navy in February 1941 and began a 21-year military career.

He fought in the Pacific war zone for 21 months and received several honors, including the Silver Star and the Distinguished Flying Cross.

After retiring, he worked for the Navy in a civilian capacity for 10 years at Cape Canaveral and Port Hueneme.

From 1962 to 1975, he owned the Oaks Inn on Montauk Highway in East Hampton, N.Y.

He also worked with his daughter, Janis Peace, at Peace Lighting in Carpinteria.

He was a member of Las Posas Country Club, the Army-Navy Country Club and Quiet Birdman. He was a former president of both the Ventura County Aviation Assn. and the Ventura/Santa Barbara County Illuminating Engineering Society.

His hobbies included flying, hunting and golf.

He was preceded in death by a son, Christopher, and a brother, Bill.

In addition to his daughter, Janis of Carpinteria, he is survived by his wife of 28 years, Eileen; a daughter, Susan Monday of Camarillo; two sons, Jeff Monday of Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., and Gary Monday of Camarillo; and four grandchildren.

A memorial service is scheduled at 2 p.m. today at St. Columba’s Episcopal Church in Camarillo.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Don Ely Memorial Fund at Camarillo Community Bank, 1150 Paseo Camarillo, Camarillo, CA 93010. All donations will be sent in his memory to the National World War II Monument Fund in Washington, D.C.

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Arrangements are under the direction of Guardian Memorial Funeral Directors in Oxnard.