Dr. James J. Kelly, 95, a family physician

James J. Kelly, a Delaware County family physician, morphed twice into a veterinarian - an elephant veterinarian.

As an Army medical officer assigned to a construction battalion in India during World War II, he was the man whom natives rewarded for treating their wounded elephants.

During the building of the Burma Road, his wife, Carolyn said, "they had elephants that they used, to lift the heavy logs."

"On two different occasions, an elephant got shot," and he cut out the bullets. She said she never asked how they happened to be shot.

On both occasions, a native girl came from a nearby village and offered him an egg as reward. He declined.

It was a luxury for the locals, his wife said, and it would have been "a luxury even for the soldiers."

On Saturday, May 8, Dr. Kelly, 95, died at his home in Drexel Hill.

Born in West Philadelphia, Dr. Kelly graduated from West Catholic High School, was a 1935 graduate of what is now St. Joseph's University, and earned his medical degree in 1939 at Thomas Jefferson University.

His military record shows that he served from September 1943 to April 1946 in the China-Burma-India campaign.

Dr. Kelly and his wife were married in December 1949 and marked their 60th anniversary last year.

In 1958, his wife said, Dr. Kelly joined with nine other physicians to open and own Haverford Hospital, which became Haverford Community Hospital until the Sisters of Mercy bought and ran it as Mercy Community Hospital. It closed in 2002.

As an owner of the hospital, he was a member of the board of directors and a chairman of the general practice department, his wife said.

Dr. Kelly maintained a family practice on North Ninth Street in Darby until 1988, after which he consulted there.

He worked at two other Delaware County operations, his wife said - as medical director at the Leader Nursing Home in Yeadon and as medical adviser at the St. Francis Country House in Darby.

Dr. Kelly was a life member of the American Academy of Family Physicians and a diplomate of the National Board of Medical Examiners.

He was a member of the President's Club at Thomas Jefferson University and a member of the Delaware County, Pennsylvania and American Medical Associations.

Besides his wife, Dr. Kelly is survived by a sister.

A visitation was set from 10 a.m. Friday, May 14, at the Church of St. Andrew the Apostle, 3500 School Lane, Drexel Hill, before an 11 a.m. Funeral Mass there, with burial in Arlington Cemetery, Upper Darby.