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| Affiliation | Democratic |
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| Name | Kelly C. Atkinson |
| Address |
, Utah , United States |
| Email | None |
| Website | None |
| Born |
Unknown
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| Contributor | User 215 |
| Last Modifed | User 215
Mar 07, 2005 10:03am |
| Tags |
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| Info | Kelly C. Atkinson was born in 1951 in Union, Utah. As a boy he suffered a debilitating speech impediment that caused children to laugh and ridicule him. Kelly’s life was changed when his 6th grade teacher, Mr. Graybill, took him under his wing and tutored him. Because of Mr. Graybill’s love, Kelly overcame his speech impediment.
Kelly is the first college graduate in his family. Graduating from the University of Utah, Kelly majored in political science.
His love of government caused him to run for political office. In 1986, Kelly became the first democrat elected from the city of West Jordan since the Great Depression. As a State Representative, Kelly specialized in education legislation, serving on the powerful Education Appropriation Committee during his entire legislative career. He served as the Minority Whip of the Utah House of Representatives from 1990 till 1996 when he left the Utah Legislature to make an unsuccessful bid for United States Congress.
The Deseret News named Kelly one of the “most effective legislators” on Capitol Hill four of his five terms in office. Twice named as Utah’s “Legislator of the Year”, Kelly received many honors during his 10-years as a legislator. Two times the Majority Party asked him to chair subcommittees, a rare privilege afforded to a member from the Minority Party.
Kelly worked his way through the University of Utah as a night custodian for the Granite School District. He served at the Executive Director of the Utah School Employees Association representing over 6,800 classified professionals working for Utah’s forty school districts for 23 years. He presently runs a successful lobbying firm concentrating in the area of healthcare and law enforcement
Kelly became a charter member of the West Jordan Rotary Club in 1986 when Bob Ladenberger, a hospital administrator, invited him to join. Bob shared with Kelly the story of how Rotary was attempting to eradicate polio from the face of the earth. Kelly immediately fell in love with Rotary and joined on the spot. Since joining, Kelly has served in many different capacities including Club Secretary, Club President, held every chairmanship over each of the avenues of services, and served as the Rotary Youth Exchange Chair on a district level under three administrations. The Atkinson’s have sponsored 11 exchange students in their ho and their youngest son went on a
Rotary foreign exchange.
Kelly lives in West Jordan with his high school sweetheart, Penny. They have been married 33 years. Penny, a Rotarian and current Club President of the West Jordan Rotary Club, is the CEO of Valley Foundation and has a master’s degree in Business Administration. Penny and Kelly have two children. Steven, is a physician assistant in Colorado and Shannon (married) is currently engaged in completing his Masters Program at the University of Utah.
The Atkinsons have two grandsons, Ashton, age 4; and MacKinley age 2.
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