Mr. Kelly A. Bufkin suddenly finished his earthly assignment on February 9th, 2021, at St. Vincent's Hospital, in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Kelly was born and raised in Vicksburg, Mississippi. He was a dedicated outdoorsman his entire life, hunting with his family from an early age. He was a Boy Scout in Troop 7.  After graduating from Vicksburg High School in 2004, he went into the United States Air Force through the Early Enlistment program. He entered service as a Munitions Systems Apprentice/Journeyman with the 712th Munitions Squadron, Camp Darby, Livorno, Italy, and finished service as an E-1, Senior Airman, Munitions Systems Journeyman with the 49th Maintenance Squadron, Holloman Air Force Base, Alamogordo, New Mexico, May 2008. After his time in service to the nation, he worked at Bunge-Ergon Vicksburg, in Operations, then Maintenance. Although he took courses through the Community College of the Air Force, his service afforded him the opportunity to pursue his education through the Sonny V. Montgomery GI Bill. He started at Hinds Community College and was accepted at Mississippi State University in February 2011. He held two degrees from Mississippi State, finishing with a B.A. in History and a B..S. in Wildlife, Fisheries, and Aquaculture in May 2016.

He met his life long love, Katie McKnight, in Vicksburg, in 2008. He followed her to Mississippi State University and then on to Hot Springs, Arkansas, where they continued their life together.

Kelly worked for Hot Springs National Park, as a biological technician, conducting bat acoustic surveys.  He had a tour with AmeriCorps NCCC, where he continued to study bats. He was part of a research project for Mississippi State University, tagging deer with GPS collars.