Man hopes wife’s death in Farmington crash brings others to God

FARMINGTON, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — A Farmington woman is laid to rest one week after a fatal car crash.

High school sweethearts Kevin and Jennifer Kelley married in 2009.

“Anybody that knew me then will attest to the fact that I almost immediately was head over heels in love with her. She’s just the most passionate and loving, selfless, giving just amazing person,” Kevin Kelley said.

After two children, the Kelleys moved to Farmington five years ago and became an all-American family. Kevin coaches football for their son 7-year-old Michael. Jennifer coached cheer for their 9-year-old Lilah.

“The most fiercely loving, always there for anything for her kids,” Kevin Kelley said fighting back tears.

Jennifer made sure everyone felt celebrated.

“No one is allowed to have a birthday that isn’t turned into a full-on national holiday,” he said.

Jennifer was a talented photographer. Their home is a gallery exhibiting all of life’s little moments. A look around makes it clear, the photographer’s eye was always focused on her family and her faith.

Her Bible, used so much the cover has fallen off, is an ultimate study guide filled with annotations, underlines and sticky notes.

Jennifer Kelley died on April 18 when someone speeding on Broyles Street in Farmington hit her car head-on. It is enough to make the strongest person question their faith. But not Kevin. Jennifer wouldn’t let him, even after her death when a pastor picked a verse to help Kevin find comfort.

“Of all the Bibles in the house to grab, they grabbed hers. So we opened it up. We flipped to 1 Thessalonians 4:13 and in the margin, on August 2, 2023, she wrote, “How sad it must be to go through this life without Jesus with an arrow pointed directly towards that verse,” Kevin Kelley said.

He says that moment is one of three miracles he wants people to hear. Another involved his son, Michael, who was in the car with his mom.

“Our son ran away, walked away unscathed from a crash that in the natural he could not have survived. Anybody who’s seen the vehicles, anyone who saw the wreck, there’s no way,” he said.

Jennifer suffered a different fate. Kevin says her internal organs were unsalvagable. Her aorta was ruptured. He said a surgeon told him she should not have lived more than 30 seconds in those conditions.

“She lived long enough to tell her son that she loved him one more time. The biggest miracle to me of this whole thing is that she lived for over an hour and not just that she lived but she was conscious and she was speaking. I was able to kiss her in the hospital and tell her that I loved her and she told me that she loved me. That is to me, there’s no way that is not God,” Kevin Kelley said.

These moments give Kevin peace. But he will not rest, hoping Jennifer’s story in death will carry on her life legacy of leading others to Christ.

“Every person she interacted with was affected by her loss and there is a Jennifer size hole in the hearts of everyone who knew her and people are responding to that and they’re responding to it with a magnitude I never could’ve imagined,” Kevin Kelley said.

People are responding, from makeshift monuments left on the side of Broyles Street to people even starting their own journey with God. Kevin shared a story of two young girls from Jennifer’s cheer team who had a lot of questions after her death.

“Those little girls told their mother they wanted Jesus in their hearts too, and that night, they gave their lives to Jesus. And the next morning, they were baptized. That’s two I know of already that through this heinous, horrible event, the Holy Spirit is working through Jennifer,” he said.

Hoping more will do the same, Kevin is sharing Jennifer’s story with anyone who will listen.

A friend has set up a GoFundMe page for the Kelleys and people can also send flowers through the funeral home here.

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