Adelsman endorsed for department chaplain

By By Pine Island Post 184

The Rev. Kelley Adelsman has been endorsed for chaplain of The American Legion Department of Minnesota by the Minnesota 3rd District Convention and Charles Cowden Post 184, Pine Island. She is a PUFL member of The American Legion. Her qualifying terms of military service encompass: U.S. Army 1984-89 and the Minnesota Army National Guard 2006-12.

At the department level she was elected chaplain for 2021-22 and appointed for January to July 2023. At the 3rd District, she was vice commander 2019-21, historian 2022-23 and chaplain, 2023-24.

Kelley Adelsman

For Pine Island Post 184, she was chaplain 2012-13, service officer 2012-13 and 2020-21 and 2nd vice commander and Executive Committee member 2022-2023.

In 2019, Adelsman was selected and attended National American Legion College. For three years (2022 to 2024), she has had the distinct honor of being a National American Legion College Facilitator, or “tator.” She has been an active member of the Department of Minnesota Training Committee since 2020. In 2021 she was endorsed for National American Legion chaplain.

Adelsman has been an ordained minister since 2007. She completed a Master of Divinity degree and has an ecclesiastical endorsement through Converge (formerly Baptist General Conference). She was one of the first of six Minnesota Army National Guard chaplains to complete a unit of clinical pastoral education through a new partnership with the St. Cloud VA Health Care System and the National Guard.

She completed an additional five units at Mayo Clinic and St. Cloud VA Health Care System respectively. She has been a chaplain in the National Guard, hospice chaplain and bereavement coordinator for Mayo Clinic and the Mayo Clinic Health Care System.

This year, she created a new podcast hosted by the Department Media & Communication Committee called “Spotlight on Spirit.” Listen in, like, subscribe and follow at YouTube channel for Minnesota American Legion or Spotify “Spotlight on Spirit.” You can find it at legionnaire.org, too. This podcast creates safety to talk with others on how spirituality and a practiced religion deepen one’s sense of purpose, identity and value.

This following year, 2024-2025 (God willing), she plans to work with others (Frank Gifford of the 6th District and the Rev. Cindy Yanchury of the 3rd, to name two) to develop a Chaplain Manual for the Department of Minnesota that will provide information and how-to aids for chaplains in our department.

Adelsman resides in Pine Island with her spouse, Mike, of 29 years. They enjoy their three grown children.