William Francis O'Kelley with his grandson, Van McKibben Lane, III (circa 1952)
William Francis (Frank) O'Kelley was born in Conyers, Georgia on October 15th, 1884. His grandfather Dr. Francis O'Kelley was a physician and served in the Civil War. His father Thomas Dean O'Kelley received a Master's degree from Vanderbilt before holding various jobs in Conyers (then a small town), including editor of a local newspaper and school superintendent.
Frank's mother was Mary Cordellia "Dollie" Smith, who came from a devout family of Presbyterians. Her four brothers were all expected to become Presbyterian ministers, but when her brother Henry asked his parents if he might be allowed to enter into business, they said he could only do so on the condition that he chose the apostle Paul's profession: tent making. This Henry agreed to do, and he soon expanded his business to include carpets, Wonder Weave rugs, and Cabin Craft spreads, among other textiles.
Frank's mother Dollie died when he was ten years old, but not before instilling in him the desire to become a Presbyterian minister.
Frank graduated from Davidson College (North Carolina) with a Bachelor's degree in Greek. While at Davidson, Frank won the Declaimer’s Medal, the highest honor at Davidson College, given to one person each year.
Frank then attended a theological seminary for two years but did not finish the third due to his uncle Jasper "Jap" Smith's belief that the seminary was not "theologically sound". Uncle Jap convinced Frank to enter into the ministry without completing his seminary training.
Uncle Jap was the minister of First Presbyterian of Shreveport and in 1910 invited Frank to come to Shreveport to take over the Dunlap Memorial Presbyterian Church. Frank accepted his uncle's offer, and remained minister of Dunlap Memorial for ten years, apart from two years of service in the 1st World War.
Frank O'Kelley entered into World War I as a Chaplain, but soon resigned that position in order to become a soldier. He served between 1916 and 1918.
In 1920 he married Margery Hughes, the daughter of William Clark Hughes (at one time speaker of the House of Representatives in Louisiana), and they immediately moved to Minden, Louisiana where Frank took over the Minden Presbyterian Church. He remained minister of that church for 23 years. Frank and Margery had three children, Margery, Frances, and Keith.
While at Minden Presbyterian, Frank O'Kelley was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Southwestern University in Memphis, Tennessee.
His next church was Colonial Presbyterian Church in Dallas, where he stayed 5 years. Then at age 65, he accepted a position doing some of the most difficult work possible, that of establishing new Presbyterian churches in towns where none existed. Based upon cards filled out by residents who indicated that they would attend a Presbyterian church if one was founded, he established four different churches(still thriving today). These were in Killeen, north Austin, and Rockdale, his last church (where he was located when he contracted cancer). He retired 6 weeks before he died in November, 1959.
During a period of 50 years, William Francis O'Kelley, D.D. produced seven volumes of prose, each containing approximately 300 sermons. He organized these according to the books of the Bible from which the scripture reading in each sermon was taken. The transcription of these sermons is ongoing.
