I HAD ONLY ONE JOB TO DO—WRITE THE OBITUARY. HIS WIFE, FREDDIA, ARRANGED THE church service in Boston, and my sister, Makani, took care of everything else. She flew from Jackson, Miss., to Albuquerque to identify the body, arrange his cremation, pay bills, close accounts, pack up his things, clean out his apartment, and inform friends and family that our father had transitioned. None of our father’s other three children went to New Mexico to help out, myself included. Writing his obituary was to be my contribution.
Donald Sheralton Kelley officially died on February 29, 2020, although two or three days passed before someone found his body. He was 82 years old and alone. We had been estranged for over two decades. He called me occasionally, usually on my birthday,…
