Jessie Lynne Gabbard Keltner, 74, of London, Kentucky, passed away in her home on Sunday, July 26 after a brief battle with cancer. She was surrounded by friends and family who sang some of her favorite hymns in her final moments.
A member of the London High School class of 1970, she graduated from Morehead State University, where she majored in sociology with an emphasis on social work.
For several years in the 1970s she lived at her family’s homeplace in Clay County with her uncle Millard Bishop and worked as a social worker with the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Later, she worked as a paralegal and then for many years in social services at Laurel Heights Home for Elderly in London.
A singer and musician, she played autoharp, guitar and piano. She played violin with the London Community Orchestra and old-time fiddle at festivals including Clay Cunty Days.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Luther and Jessie Bishop Gabbard of London, and by her stepson from a previous marriage, Breathitt Kelley.
Jessie Lynne is survived by her husband David Keltner of London, her sister Anne Gabbard Shelby (Edmund) of Oneida, her nephew Graham Shelby (Gabrielle) of Louisville and her great-nephews Luke, Leo and Ace Shelby. She is also mourned and missed by her former stepdaughters Kolleen Kelley of Paducah and Molly Kelley McCabe (Kevin) of Raleigh, North Carolina, by her brother-in-law Steve Keltner of Nicholasville and sister-in-law Beth Hatchett of Lexington, niece Kristy Jenkins of Standford and nephews Carl Bradford, Robert and Lee Thomas Hatchett, along with many other relatives and friends whose lives she touched.
Her loved ones will miss her compassion, generosity and sense of humor as well as the beautiful music she played and photographs she took and shared.
Services for Jessie Lynne Keltner were held at Bowling Funeral Home in London on July 30. A tribute slide show of photographs appears on the Bowling Funeral Home website. She is buried alongside her parents at the Gabbard Cemetery at Gray Hawk in Jackson County.
