By Jeff Wilson
Janice Kelly and her daughters Pamela Hyde and Patricia Kelly knew they wanted to honor their husband and father’s legacy, and they decided that SIU’s College of Business and Analytics was the place to do it.
Douglas Kelly, graduated from SIU with a bachelor’s in accounting in 1957. He was one of the university’s first Black accounting students. Spurred by their mother’s desire to establish a living memorial to their father, the family donated $50,000 to establish the Douglas E. Kelly Memorial Scholarship to support African American students who are studying accounting at SIU.
“The education my father received at SIU was the foundation of many of the opportunities my sister and I have been able to take advantage of,” Hyde said. “It’s important to us as his family to leave that legacy where he went to.”
Douglas Kelly, who passed away in 2003, met his wife, Janice, while attending SIU.
“He was established on campus, and our mother heard about him,” Hyde said. “They met in 1956 and were married in 1957 after he graduated. My sister and I are implementing our mother’s vision. We decided to pick up the ball and run with it.”
After working as a laborer for a bit, Douglas Kelly took a job with the IRS. He started as an agent and rose to the position of chief of appeals in the St. Louis region. He was a member of the National Association of Black Accountants. Janice Kelly was a professor at St. Louis Community College. Both were CPAs.
“Our father mentored a great number of minority employees of the IRS,” Hyde said. “This scholarship exemplifies his philosophy of helping someone in need. We want to lift as we climb; you don’t want to pull the ladder up behind you.”
A Du Quoin native, Douglas Kelly was fully immersed in campus life. He was a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, an organization known to give out scholarships that honored students’ character.
“He was very much into giving back. You can see that throughout his life,” Hyde said. “We thought this was a really good way to honor and keep his memory alive. We want to help students stay fully engaged with their studies and to be able to take advantage of the opportunities in front of them.”
The family also hopes that seeing such philanthropic support coming from a Black family will make the scholarship even more impactful.
“We want to inspire the imagination of these students,” Hyde said. “We’re putting a face on the scholarship, and it’s a Black man’s face. I think that means something.”
For more information about how to make a similar gift, visit siuf.org.