Dr. Vincent Kelley, 78; Family Always Came First For Researcher

Pile up the fellowship grants, the awards and the worldwide recognition that Dr. Vincent Kelley won for his pediatric research, but they don't compare with what he valued most.

"With all the accomplishments, achievements and awards and everything else he had in his life, his family was first. There wasn't a thing that we needed that he wouldn't do," said Tom Kelley, the second of seven children, who lives in San Jose, Calif. "Everything I know about being a man and a father I learned from him."

A Wedgwood resident for 36 years, Dr. Kelley, well-known in the endocrinology field for his research on growth hormones, died Saturday in a Ballard nursing home of lung cancer. He was 78.

At 18, Dr. Kelley had already earned his bachelor of arts degree from the University of North Dakota. He went on to earn his Ph.D. in biochemistry and his medical degree from the University of Minnesota.

He earned another four degrees, including a master's in math and a bachelor's in education, by the time he was 30.

While teaching math at a Minnesota junior-high school, he met the school superintendent's daughter, Dorothy MacArthur. The two started dating and married six years later, in 1942.

After more schooling and serving in the Army as an altitude researcher, Dr. Kelley joined the staff at the University of Utah as an associate pediatrics professor in 1950. While there, he won international recognition for endocrine research, including the E. Mead Johnson Award for pediatric research.

He left in 1958 for a position with the University of Washington as a full professor, heading the pediatrics department's endocrinology, metabolism and renal dis-

ease unit. At the same time, he continued writing and publishing, editing reference volumes and authoring hundreds of articles.

His dogged research won him top awards and the admiration of those in his field, said longtime colleague and friend Dr. Ralph Wedgwood.

"He was very analytical but when he thought he had an answer he could get very passionate. He would go after it very, very hard with very much energy," said Wedgwood, a pediatrics professor emeritus at the UW.

But he also earned the respect of his colleagues for his strong sense of morality and compassion toward others, Wedgwood said.

Dr. Kelley, called "Pappa Jim" by his grandchildren, also had a sense of humor that made people want to be around him, said Tom Kelley. That cheerfulness made him the "most kissed man in the nursing home," according to what one nurse told Tom.

"He was not one to seek the limelight. It always kind of found him," said Bob Kelley, his fifth child, who lives in Kirkland and is also a doctor.

Survivors also include two daughters, Nancy Angelovic of Huntington Beach, Calif., and Jean McElroy of Everett; three other sons, Richard of Seattle, William of Marysville, and James of Olympia; an aunt, Gladys Johnson of St. Paul, Minn.; nine grandchildren, and three nephews.

A rosary will be said at 5:45 p.m. tomorrow at Hoffner, Fisher and Harvey funeral home, 508 N. 36th St. Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church, 8900 35th Ave. N.E. Donations may be made to Vincent C. Kelley Memorial Fund for "Research by Fellow or Resident Physicians."