Gene Martin Kelly

Born in Elmira NY, on May 26, 1946, Gene Martin Kelly resided in Orlando, Florida where he enjoyed his final days with his family and partner, Mona Dixon.

He was the youngest of four children, Winston, Pauline, and Marlene, born to Eola and Gerald Kelly. Gene joined a blended family with Larry and Eola Scofield at the age of 4 with the additions of Bobby, Sonny, Darlene and Sandy. Gene was then joined with two younger brothers, Rodger and Mark. Yes – ten siblings in all.

Gene met his wife, Cindy Bowers, at Cornell University while pursuing his studies with the nudging of his Granddad Scofield. Soon married at the age of 20, they had their children in upstate New York, daughter Kemper, son, Jeffrey, and daughter, Angela.

Gene enjoyed being part of the community and engaged in volunteering his time to nature. Leading his own Boy Scout troop, he taught the importance of protecting nature and of fire safety by being part of the early on “Smokey Bear” campaigns in the Boy Scout community.

Gene relocated the family to Central Florida where he pursued the love of landscaping and landscape design. One of his first milestone career endeavors was with Disney in Orlando, where he shared his passion and creativity throughout the Disney property in the early 80’s.

He then pursued his own business in the mid 80’s, and soon connected with Steve McDowell at Florida Commercial Care doing landscape design for the Central Florida area. Here he had joined his work family for life.

Gene’s daughters married in the late 80’s. Kemper to Rand Bushnell, and Angela to Ted Sutherlin. This eventually led to Gene and Cindy receiving the pleasure of their first two grandchildren just three months apart, Marci Bushnell and Rebecca Sutherlin. Gene and Cindy enjoyed their life with these two little girls – painting and throwing tomatoes involved!  And then came along SeeJay as his third adopted granddaughter, who accepted each other as their own.

After the passing of his wife Cindy in 1999, Gene met his future life partner Mona Dixon in 2003 where he enjoyed yet another blended family. Mona has five daughters, Lynn, Crystal, Kay, Brenda and Lisa. Yes, Gene’s life was practically filled with all girls!

With the loss of his son, Jeff in 2019, he was heartbroken and was reminded of all the great days he spent with his son and his friends growing up. They all became a group of comrades to include his patriotic, ride or die son-in-law, Ted Sutherlin and his nephew - Trump confidant Ronnie.

Gene enjoyed playing guitar in his early days with his father and brother-in-law, Olie, and Skip Bowers. He eventually taught his daughter his love of the guitar. He enjoyed the love of playing piano taught by his mother Eola. He was always the natural “entertainer."

In his mid-50’s, Gene began another hobby of oil painting and became obsessed with his art and shared his love and art with all that wanted to partake in it.

His passion for our country and his patriotism is well known by all. He flew the American Flag with pride each day. Rush Limbaugh was another passion, not to mention Fox News and soon behind; Trump, which he received a Certificate of Patriotism for his contribution to the Trump campaign.  Gene wanted to make America great again as well.

Although this does not touch all the wonderful aspects and contributions of Gene’s life on earth, he would give the shirt of his back to others in need, and he touched many lives throughout his life journey. We all have our fond memories of the man we knew and loved, and he will be truly missed by all that knew him.

His life will be celebrated on Saturday, June 21, 2025 at 11:00 am at Newcomer Funeral Home - East Orlando Chapel, 895 S. Goldenrod Rd, Orlando with Chaplain Clint Kandle officiating.

The family will receive friends prior to the memorial service on Saturday, June 21 preceding the service from 10:00 am to 11:00 am at the funeral home.

To share your memories of Gene, or to leave a special message of condolence for his family, please visit and sign the guestbook below.