Bruce Godfrey Kelly

Bruce Godfrey Kelly of Columbia, South Carolina, passed away at Veterans Victory House in Walterboro on October 1, 2025. Born in Columbia, South Carolina, on April 12, 1936, Bruce was raised in Columbia and Jacksonville, Florida. where he graduated from high school. He attended Bethany Nazarene College in Oklahoma.

Bruce was a respected leader and innovator in South Carolina’s manufactured home industry, a business group that provides homes for one-out-of-five families in the state.

He served as an officer and board member of the Manufactured Housing Institute of SC, an organization that promotes high standards for the factory-built home industry. He also served as Midlands Chapter President for the organization.

Armed with over 35 years’ experience in management and sales, Bruce opened the SC Manufacture Home Academy in 2003. The course emphasized good business practices and ethics in the sales process. The class was so highly regarded that the state of South Carolina made it a mandatory part of the training for all new salespersons and retail managers coming into the business.

Bruce trained over 10,000 men and women over a 17-year period until he retired and sold the training company in 2020. He was honored by the SC Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, the agency that oversees the industry, for his key role in promoting professionalism in the manufactured home business.

Bruce joined the United States Army before graduating college and served in Korea. He separated from the Army at the rank of Sargent.

Bruce was very active in the church and served as Senior Warden of Church of the Cross Episcopal. He and his wife Mary will always be remembered for their leadership, positive influence, and generosity.

Bruce is predeceased by his wife, Mary Kelly, his parents Charles Melvin Kelly and Florence Chewing Kelly. He is also predeceased by his daughters Lizzy and Donna, his son Christian, and his brothers Charles Wesley Kelly and Phillip Blane Kelly. He is survived by his son Jason Kelly of Charleston, his brother James (Jim) Carl Kelly of Columbia, and his grandchildren: Jason Kelly, Jr., Patricia Kelly and Caroline Kelly of Charleston.

Bruce was an avid guitarist; enjoyed travelling across the country, especially out West; loved little dogs and was deeply devoted to Mary.

A memorial service is planned at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, October 17, 2025, at Church of the Cross Episcopal, 7244 Patterson Road, Columbia, S.C., 29209. Internment will be at Fort Jackson Memorial Cemetery at 2:00 p.m. Bruce requested that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Oliver Gospel Mission, 1100 Taylor St., Columbia, S.C., 29201

Arrangements by Brice Herndon's Walterboro Chapel, 843.538.5408.