Cecelia E. Kelly, 96
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Cecelia Elizabeth Kelly, 96, of Houston died Saturday, March 11, 2006, at home. She was the mother of Katherine Anne Kelly Montgomery of North Adams.
Born in San Antonio on March 12, 1909, daughter of Hugh and Kate Tynan Rice, she was educated at Ursuline Academy and at Incarnate Word College and earned a master of arts degree at the University of Texas in 1933, presenting a thesis on how to write stories for children age 3 to 5.
While teaching at Randolph Airfield in San Antonio in 1934, she met her husband, Thomas Philip Kelly Sr. They were married in 1935 moved around Texas because of his railroad career.
Mrs. Kelly taught elementary school in San Antonio and Houston and also ballroom dancing to teens in the San Antonio Parks and Recreation Program. She played the piano and enjoyed group singing.
Having once struggled with reading herself, she enjoyed helping children overcome reading problems and enjoyed teaching songs and games. She founded and raised the money for a school library at her children's parochial school, was an active parishioner of St. Vincent de Paul in Houston for 59 years and was a Legion of Mary visitor to M.D. Anderson Hospital in Houston in her retirement years.
Her husband died in 1972.
Besides her daughter and her husband, William Morey Montgomery, she leaves five sons, Col. Thomas P. Kelly Jr. of Santa Rosa Calif., and William B. Kelly, Hugh Rice Kelly, Peter Byrne Kelly and James Tynan Kelly, all of Houston; a daughter, Mary Cecelia Kelly Pauwels of Austin, Texas; two sisters, 14 grandchildren, and a great-grandchild. Among her 15 descendants are Celia Annette Montgomery and David Montgomery, both of New York City.
She was predeceased by her sisters, Bernardine Rice in 1994 and Shevaun Rice in 1926, and by a daughter-in-law, Lee Sherrits Kelly, in 2001.
FUNERAL NOTICE — A funeral Mass was celebrated March l5, 2006, at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Houston. Memorial donations may be made to Community Resources for People with Autism, c/o Megan Sherman, 560 River Road, Clarksburg, MA 01247.