Kelvin Duane Oliver

Coleman Funeral Home of Olive Branch Kelvin Duane Oliver was born to Charles and Naomi Oliver; older brother to Wilda Gail and April Faye. He is the proud father of four adult children whom he adored: Nicholas, Charlie, Desiree and Sean and has one grandson, Aaryn. Kelvin loved GOD and strived to live honorably and became a faithful Catholic follower of Jesus. One movie favorite that we both and our mother loved told the true story of the church and God’s miracles at Lourdes — the ‘Song of Bernadette’ 1943. I idolized my big brother. He always took care of me. He was named after one of dad’s shipmates, Duane. In my youth, I used to have a bit of difficulty saying his name calling him Cromwell. One of my earliest memories is his first day of school. Which he enjoyed without me tagging along behind him. That was the beginning of his lifelong pursuit to understand things. He used to tinker and had a great imagination. I loved to play with him and his little green army men, before GI Joe existed. He loved the Mickey Mouse Club tv show in the 1960s and later enjoyed going to Disneyland itself. He always listened before speaking and was patient allowing others to share their thoughts first. He was a talented trumpet player in a drum and bugle corps marching band. He excelled in school and scored extremely high on his naval entrance exam. Number 2 in the entire group. He joined the navy in 1977 during the Vietnam War at a time when computers were new to us all. He was aboard a ship. I remember worrying if he could swim. He stayed in 3 ½ years and received an honorable discharge. The navy trained him and shaped his career choice, computer technology. That led to an extraordinary 38 years of working for and then retiring from IBM. He had a gift for computers – even built his own. He excelled at instructing others how to repair (room-sized) mainframes — a room filled with large machines (in those days that was equal to the same power that we each have on our cell phones today). They sent him all over the U.S. to fix the big ones. Kelvin’s career success at IBM afforded him one of his favorite treasures—his powder blue Porsche. He loved his cars. Kelvin also deeply loved music enjoying Sly and the Family Stone, Tower of Power, Chicago, Parliament, Funkadelic and Prince (especially the movie and soundtrack to Purple Rain). Our sister April, spoke of her fond memories of our big brother, in her own words. A group of us went to Great America amusement park, it was four adults, and six or seven children. We had a ball. Kelvin and his friend watched after the girls, and, me and my friend, we watched after the boys. Anyway, when it was time to come home, we go out to the parking lot, and one of the cars is missing. It had gotten stolen. So, Kelvin, bless his heart, piled all seven of those children in his little car. And him and his friend, and the kids went all the way from Santa Clara, California, to Oakland, cramped up in that little bitty car. I want to say it was a Mazda 323. But, uh, that was a good memory that I had, because we had fun that day. Just family hanging out and enjoying each other. But what is really most important to me, rather I cherish is more of an accurate word. What I cherish is, in the last couple of two, three years, or so... myself, Kelvin, Thomas, Charlie and dad, were in a group text, and we would watch the Raiders and 49er games together, and if the games weren't televised, out here, then the people in California would keep us posted on the score, and somehow, Kelvin could see the games too, and they would keep us posted, but… just the... the closeness, the love, the sharing. I will always treasure that. Always. Kelvin was passionate about his family. He wanted us to know how much he loved us and his devoted wife Claire and especially his cherished children. He bravely shielded us from the painful illnesses that took him away from us. I will always treasure his great strengths: strong faith, deep love of family and that brilliant smile. Online condolences may be left on his tribute wall at www.colemanfuneralhomeob.com.

Kelvin Duane Oliver

February 1, 1955 - July 20, 2026

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