This from the Kokomo Tribune: PERU, IN — Pat Kelly traveled the country performing in circuses as a sad, downtrodden clown for most his life, just like his father, Emmett Kelly, the iconic depression-era hobo clown named Weary Willy.
Pat Kelly was known across the U.S. for his performances and his famous clowning father, but his home was always Peru, where he was born March 19, 1934, inside Dukes Memorial Hospital.
And on Wednesday, his hometown gave him a true big-top sendoff at the International Circus Hall of Fame after Kelly passed away June 27 at Hickory Creek at Peru. He was 87.
Friends and families gathered inside the hall of fame’s museum barn, which once housed tigers and elephants when the grounds served as the winter quarters for some of the most famous circuses in the world.
As crowds gathered in downtown Peru for the city’s annual Circus City Festival, the barn 5 miles away was filled with the puffy, chipper sound of a steam-powered calliope playing famous circus tunes.
On display inside a large case was Kelly’s famous tattered, raggedy clown costume that he made himself, along with sketches he drew of his character. An oil painting hung in the middle with a sign above that read “See you down the road.”
John Wright, president of the International Circus Hall of Fame, said Kelly became a professional clown in 1958, when he performed for the first time in what would become Peru’s annual circus parade.
Before that, Kelly served from 1953 to 1956 in the Marine Corps, where he was honorably discharged.
But Kelly truly became Peru’s hometown clown in 1991, when he joined up with the hall of fame to put on shows and entertain crowds throughout the year, especially during the Peru Circus City Festival.
“It’s been an honor to be around him, and a privilege to see him bringing smiles to so many and sharing his light to all who knew him,” Wright said.
Although Kelly was famous for clowning, those in Peru loved him for his gentle spirit and his ability to make just about everyone smile.
Zach Morecraft, who played the calliope during the service, said he hung out with Kelly every summer at the hall of fame and got to know him well during that time.
“He was everything everybody said he was,” Morecraft said. “He was the nicest person you ever met. He always had a smile on his face, and he was always laughing every time you saw him, no matter what was going on.”
That personality was in contrast to his character, a down-on-his-luck tramp who could never catch a break. The persona was based on his father’s Weary Willy, which redefined the nature of clowning around the world. Unlike the jolly clowns before him, Emmett Kelly dressed in tatters, ate cabbage and looked like a hobo.
Wednesday’s memorial service marked the end of an era in America’s clowning history that was started by his father in the 1940s. His brother, Emmett Kelly Jr., also took up the family mantel and became a renowned hobo-clown performer who twice put on shows at the White House in Washington, D.C. He died in 2006.
Wright said the Kelly brothers never performed together until 1997, when they joined up to put on shows around the country until Emmett Kelly Jr.’s passing.
Dick Notter, a Catholic priest who for 28 years has been part of ministry for circus and traveling show performers, led most of the memorial service. He said he watched Kelly’s act a number of times at the hall of fame and knew he was a talented performer and a kind man.
Notter chose a Bible reading from 2 Corinthians for the service, which says “Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.”
“I thought that was an especially appropriate reading that includes a tent,” he said. “Pat spent a lot of time in the tent out here, as well as lots of other circus tents along the way.”
The memorial ended with military rites and people sharing memories of Kelly. That included Guy McAlister, Kelly’s second cousin who lives in Miami County. He said that although Peru’s clown in residence is gone, his spirit will always live on through his circus family.
“He will be dearly missed by all my family, but we will go on smiling because we know that’s what he would want us to do,” McAlister said. “Rest in peace, Pat.”
