Former policeman and well known racing and sporting identity Jeff Kelly, son of a QLD Hall of Fame rugby league star, lost his mum the day after the Cox Plate.
Iris was her name.
By all reports she was a Hall of Famer too.
Jeff’s mate John Lingard wrote a short but poignant tribute to Iris the day before her funeral.
In it she posthumously tipped us Verry Ellegant in the Cup.
Mrs Kelly left this life just as she entered it.
A winner.
Rest in peace.
And thanks for the tip.
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THERE’S a touch of irony that will be attached to the sadness when family and friends farewell Iris Kelly on Melbourne Cup Eve in the Garden Chapel at Albany Creek Crematorium.
She is the mother of former top cop Jeff Kelly, who loves a punt, which comes as no surprise – back in the day so did mum.
Iris, whose late husband Jack was also a former policeman and top league player in Country Queensland, lost her long battle with illness on Sunday morning at the Inverpine Retirement Village in Brisbane. She was well into her 90’s.
An astute judge when it came to picking winners, Iris won the then popular Sunday Truth Turf Skill competition in January 1954 while working as a shop assistant in Rocky shortly before her wedding.
Perhaps Iris has left us with an omen bet for the Cup – VERRY ELLEEGANT – it best sums up what family remember as a wonderful lady and Jeff lovingly describes as ‘a tough old broad’