Happy Birthday Kenneth Roosevelt Neeley Sr.

 Kenneth Roosevelt Neeley was the sixth of seven children born to Amos and Ada Neeley.  He was born on June 11, 1906 in Burton Idaho.  Kay Neeley (dad's uncle and the son that received the name Kenneth Roosevelt Neeley Jr. at birth) recorded the following about his dad:

"Dad told us that his middle name came from President Theodore Roosevelt, and I have wondered why Ada May had given him that middle name.  During my CES Mission year in Salt Lake I read several biographies of Theodore Roosevelt, but despite all of my reading, I could not find a reason for Ada May giving Kenneth the middle name of Roosevelt.

Then I read the book "Out of Obscurity: The LDS Church in the Twentieth Century" these are the talks that were given at the 29th annual Sidney B. Sperry Symposium.  The theme of this symposium was to show how the church has grown during the last 100 years.

Chapter nine in this book is entitled "Theodore Roosevelt and the Latter-day Saints".  It shows that this President really was a friend to the church and stood up for them time after time.

There is no doubt that President Theodore Roosevelt was a true friend to the church, but of all my friends, I do not know of any other father or son who were named in his honor other than Dad and I.  So why did Ada May give Dad that middle name?

Ben E. Rich was the very first Mormon to befriend Roosevelt.  He was a native of Idaho, and he was the Mission President in the Southern States Mission in 1900.  He came home for October General Conference, and was asked to go to Rexburg during the campaign to introduce Roosevelt when he was the Vice Presidential candidate.  Ben E. Rich told the audience that Roosevelt would some day be president.  This remark caught Roosevelt's attention, when he found that they were both going to Salt Lake, he invited Ben to ride with him.  They spent the night talking together in Roosevelt's private train car, on their way to Salt Lake, and becamse close friends.

One year later in 1901 Ben E. Rich, received a new missionary in the Southern States, his name was Amos William Neeley.  After hearing his mission president talk about his good friend President Roosevelt, all the good things he had done for the church, it was Amos who gave Kenneth this middle name."

Kenneth died at the age of 46 on October 20, 1953 from a massive heart attack. He left a forty four year old wife with six children still at home, the youngest just a few years old.  Their two oldest children, Lenore and Joanne, had just gotten married a few years before that.  Dad was named after him, Kent Neeley Cornwall as he was born just 3 1/2 months after he died.

Theodore Roosevelt

Kenneth Roosevelt Neeley Jr. and Family