[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 5 (Tuesday, February 3, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E64]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


      TRIBUTE TO WILLIAM RUSSELL KELLY, FOUNDER OF KELLY SERVICES

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                          HON. SANDER M. LEVIN

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 3, 1998

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of Mr. 
William Russell Kelly, founder of Russell Kelly Office Service, and 
founder of this modern temporary help industry. Mr. Kelly died 
Saturday, January 3 at his home in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. He was 92.
  In 1946, single-handedly, Russ Kelly founded a new industry in a 
Detroit storefront. It began as an accommodation to employers to fill 
in for vacationing or sick employees, and also to supplement regular 
staff during short-term workloads. In the early days most of the 
temporary employees were women secretaries, hence the name ``Kelly 
Girls'' soon became a trademark around the world. Society has moved far 
beyond this confined role for women and so has the company; today, tens 
of thousands of professional and technical women and men have joined 
others in Kelly Services.
  Beginning as a fledgling company totaling $848.00 in sales in its 
first year, Kelly Services has grown today to a Fortune 500 and a 
Forbes 500 company, with annual sales approaching $4 billion. Annually, 
this Troy, Michigan-based company provides the services of more than 
750,000 of its employees through more than 1500 company offices in 50 
states and 16 countries.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring the ingenuity 
and the memory of this entrepreneurial pioneer. Indeed, when Russ Kelly 
was asked how he wanted to be remembered, he said, ``Only as a 
pioneer.''
  I extend my sincere sympathy to Russell Kelly's wife, Margaret, his 
son, Terence E. Adderley, who joined the company in 1958 and became its 
President in 1967 and who has now succeeded Mr. Kelly as Chairman of 
the Board of the Company, his daughter-in-law, Mary Beth and his six 
grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

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