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REMEMBERING A SWEETHEART ...
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I am proud to say that I have known the Kelsey family now for 47 years. They were one of the most musically inclined families in Banning.
Toni Kelsey and I met in the second grade ... Mrs. Foster's class at Hemmerling School, to be exact ... just a couple of months before President Jack Kennedy was assassinated.
I later found that Toni and I were even closer yet. We were neighbors. My family had moved into the house across the street from what is now Beasley's Garage in 1962 (76 North Woodland Avenue), and Toni and her family moved in right behind us in the house on Mountain View Avenue in the summer of 1963.
They only stayed there a couple of years before moving into a stately home on the 700 block of West Ramsey, and that's where I started to learn music from Toni's father, the late S.W. "Pete" Kelsey. We started with the guitar, and eventually progressed to the electric guitar, and then the trombone.
Well, to make a long story short, Toni and I maintained a working relationship with each other through the rest of our school years in Banning. We didn't hate each other, but by the same token we weren't the best of buddies, much less lovers. It was the perfect working relationship between us, and that's how we kept it.
Toni was diagnosed with an aggressive form of lung cancer in July. I did not know this and, in retrospect, I'm glad I didn't know. It would have made what happened September 21 much harder to take.
Anyway, they started chemotherapy treatments, but they caused Toni to lose a lot of weight, so they opted for hospice care and brought Toni home.
TONYA KAY KELSEY FOSTER lost her battle with cancer and joined her father on that Big Bandstand in the Sky Tuesday morning, Sept. 21. Her husband, Rodger Foster, and other members of her family were by her side when the Angel of Death took her hand and said, "It's time, Toni."
She was a Pennsylvania native, born December 22, 1955. Her father, S.W. "Pete" Kelsey, preceded her in death, and she is survived by her husband of 35 years, Rodger Foster, her mother, Mary Kelsey, two children, four grandchildren, her brothers Sam and Terry, and friends too numerous to count.
Graveside services for Tonya Kay "Toni" Kelsey Foster will be held Monday morning, September 27 at 11 a.m. at the San Gorgonio Memorial Park in Banning.
Viewing and visitation will take place Sunday afternoon, September 26, betweem 2 and 5 pm, at Rodger and Toni's family home, 1723 West George in Banning.
We will always, ALWAYS remember you Toni. Take care, love. See you on the other side.
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A FINAL THOUGHT ... After giving a considerable amount of thought to the subject -- since the cause is near and dear to my heart -- I have chosen to keep the link to the Breast Cancer Site below, and will hope that all who come to this website will join me in supporting the war against this terrible disease.
The corporate sponsors and advertisers of this website use the number of daily visits to this site to donate a mammogram free of charge to an underpriviledged woman.
This won't cost you anything more than a minute of your time. Once you reach the website, click on the pink window in the middle of the page that reads "Donate a mammogram" to help fund this cause.
Just go to: http://thebreastcancersite.com. Do it for the women in your life.
Thank you.
Duke and Norma Vernoy
Great Falls MT
September 22, 2010
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