Edward Kelly, Longtime Pr. William Schools Chief, Dies

Some board members privately believed that his health was worsening and would affect his performance in the grueling, high-profile job. His fitness was called into question in December 2004 after he crashed into a car idling at a traffic light near his home and kept driving, hitting another vehicle.

During School Board meetings, Kelly occasionally stumbled in his speech and his hand would often quiver. He has been replaced by Steven L. Walts, a former superintendent of a school district outside Rochester, N.Y.

The night that Walts was selected as his replacement, Kelly said in an interview, "I don't wish him anything but success."

But, he noted, "Obviously, it's sad for me. I love the job. I love what it encompasses, and I'll miss the people."

In his last days as superintendent, Kelly was honored at several farewell parties. Board members voted to name a new administrative building after him and to begin funding an annual scholarship in his name for graduating seniors who want to become teachers.

Known as a family man, Kelly said he was looking forward to writing a couple of books and vacationing with his wife. "There was not a time you would see him with his children and he wasn't laughing," said School Board Chairman Lucy S. Beachamp (At Large).

Kelly grew up the sixth of seven children in Kirksville, Mo., where his father was a coal miner and later a foreman at a shoe factory, Lynn Kelly said. He received bachelor's and master's degrees at Truman State University in Kirksville and received a doctorate at St. Louis University, she said.

The couple met when they were working in the Parkway School District in the St. Louis suburbs.

Kelly's career as an administrator led him to Little Rock, where school officials, including Kelly, often found themselves testifying in federal court over desegregation matters. Coming to Prince William, he told his wife, was a relief.

"He liked it out here because there weren't any big issues like desegregation, so he could concentrate on education," Lynn Kelly said.

But Kelly's ideas on education were not universally well-received.

Martina Boone, chairman of the Prince William County Parents Executive Committee, said she fears that site-based management might prove to be a poor policy.