[1][2] Born in St. Edward, Nebraska,[2] Kelley received a B.S.
from Northern State College in Aberdeen, South Dakota, and an LL.B.
He served in the United States Army Air Forces in England during World War II.
[2] In 1969, Governor Harold LeVander appointed Kelley as a district judge for the Third Judicial District of Minnesota, a position he held until Governor Al Quie appointed him an associate justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court in 1981.
[3] Kelley took disability retirement from the court in 1990 because of cancer.