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With Memorial Day nearing, Debbie Kelley was ready for the phone calls earlier this month.
The Beals Island woman won’t turn down an invitation to sing for any occasion – especially if it’s patriotic.
This morning she will sing “God Bless America” at a 9 a.m. pageant being staged by Narraguagus High School students in Harrington as an annual tribute to area veterans.
Monday morning, she’ll be on hand in Franklin to sing the national anthem when the town and the Franklin Veterans’ Club hold their yearly Memorial Day service.
“I am truly honored to be asked to sing, whatever the reason,” the 42-year-old Beals Island native reflected earlier this week. “Memorial Day and Veterans’ Day services that celebrate our heroes, our nation, are special for me.
“I am proud to be an American, and we sing these songs from the bottom of our hearts.”
Kelley’s maiden name is Alley – an old Beals Island family. She and her husband, Darrell, live on Barney’s Cove. Both her spouse and son are lobster fishermen. Their home has a backyard view of boats and the inlet.
Kelley, who has taught special education and single-grade classrooms for 15 years at the D.W. Merritt Elementary School in Addison, began singing at a young age. Her musical gift is highly valued by family and neighbors. But in recent years, invitations for her to sing increasingly have come from farther afield.
Former Franklin First Selectman Bruce Carter first heard Kelley sing at the Narraguagus High’s annual tribute to veterans in 2001. The next year, he asked her to come to Franklin to perform at the unveiling of the town’s black granite memorial honoring local veterans. She also sang in that Hancock County town last year and looks forward to a third time on Monday.
“She’s got a beautiful voice and just captures her audience,” Carter remarked this past week.
Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.” has actually become Kelley’s signature song, with the lyrics, “I’m proud to be an American.” She will sing that song at both the Narraguagus and Franklin services.
“That’s Debbie Kelley’s song,” Carter said. “She sings it and does it justice.”
Kelley’s talent is also much appreciated in Addison, where she is well known through her work at the elementary school.
In February, she sang “Wind Beneath My Wings” at the memorial service for Sgt. Nicholes Golding, the 24-year-old Addison man who was killed in Afghanistan. She knew Golding well, having had him as a student in third and seventh grades.
Singing at Golding’s memorial service, Kelley said, brought her former pupil’s death “very close to home.”
“There is an example of someone who gave everything, who did what he did because he felt it was right, so others can enjoy freedoms,” she said, tearing up at the memory of Golding.
Kelley sings at baptisms and dedications, graduations, weddings, retirement parties and funerals. She sings at her church and at installation ceremonies for the Eastern Star, the fraternal order of which she has been a member for 20 years. At times, she has sung words of comfort at a dying person’s bedside.
“It is an honor to be asked, and people always want to give me something,” Kelley said. “But the honor is in being asked to be a part of someone’s special time.
“It makes me feel thankful that I can do something for someone else.
“The Good Lord gave me this gift. I enjoy being able to comfort or celebrate, and to give something back.”
Katherine Cassidy can be reached at 255-3324 and kcassidy@downeast.net.
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