Longtime Sierra Club volunteer, leader and former Angeles Chapter Executive Committee Chair Herchel (Hersh) Kelley died June 10. He was 77.
Since mid-May, Hersh had been living in a care facility while recovering from emergency spinal surgery. He served as Chapter chair from 2011-12 and received a Lifelong Service Plaque from the Chapter in 2008. Hersh led the Chapter through a few difficult years with a steady hand and good humor. He was a Sierra Club member for more than 35 years and will be greatly missed.
In the early '80s, Hersh participated in the Palos Verdes/South Bay weekly conditioning hikes and took the Basic Mountaineering Training Course (now the Wilderness Travel Course) as well as the Advanced Course. He became an avid hiker, backpacker and bicyclist.
His love of the outdoors took him on a trek to Nepal, the Sierra Club's first New Zealand hiking trip and many other active adventures, near and far. He joined the Palos Verdes/South Bay Group's Conservation Committee in the late '90s and soon was elected to chair the group's Executive Committee.
His obituary in the Los Angeles Times says:
"Hersh was born in Long Beach and moved with his parents to Roseburg, Ore., as a child. After graduating high school he went to Oregon State and obtained a Bachelor of Science degree. He then entered the Air Force and was a Lt. He was employed in the computer industry his entire career and was assigned to various countries and locations throughout the U.S." It also said he would be buried in Roseburg.
Photo of Hersh Kelley by Al Sattler