KATHRYN MORGAN KELLY

KELLY, KATHRYN MORGAN Kathryn Morgan Kelly, 97, died Monday, March 9, 2015, at Eddy Village Green in Cohoes, NY. Born in New Haven, CT, Kathryn was the daughter of the late Evan E. and Hazel R. (Conroy) Morgan and wife of the late William E. Kelly. She was predeceased by her brother, James William Morgan and survived by her son, William M. Kelly (Gratia C. Deane), two grandsons, Evan D. and Chapin M. Kelly, all of Averill Park, NY, sister-in-law Dorothy Obrien Morgan, nieces Karen (Mark) Nash and Mary Jane (Christopher) Lyons, all of Hamden, and nephew Lt. David Morgan, NHFD (ret) of Florida, and several great- and great-great-nephews and nieces. Kathryn lived most of her life in Hamden and North Haven. She retired in 1978 from the Hamden Public school system after forty years as an educator. She began teaching elementary grades at Spring Glen School in Hamden and spent the last twenty-two years of her career as Hamden’s first K-12 Director of Art Education. She received her Bachelor of Science from New Haven State Teachers College (now SCSU) and Masters of Arts degrees from both Yale and Columbia Universities. In her post-retirement years she participated in continuing education courses at Quinnipiac, Albertus Magnus and Gateway Technical Colleges and national and international Elderhostle programs. Kathryn served on the Conn. State Art Commission from 1965-73 and was president of the Conn. State Art Teachers Association for several years. She was a member of the National Art Education and Eastern States Art Associations. She is remembered for the many public exhibitions of student art she organized and for developing support from business and community groups for art education in public school. She served for many years on the Board of Directors of the SCSU Alumni Association including as president from 1940-44 and on the Board of the New Haven County Retired Teachers Association. Kathryn was Assistant State Coordinator for the AARP 55 Alive Mature Driving Program and instructed these courses for twenty-five years. She was a charter member of Zeta Chapter, Delta Kappa Gamma Society and a member of Peabody Museum Associates, Yale Club of New Haven, Friends of the North Haven Library, North Haven Historical Association, Yale Art Gallery, and the Center for British Art. She was a communicant at St. Barnabus Church and a member of its women’s society. A charter member of the North Haven Red Hat Society, she also belonged to the New Haveners Club. In addition to her loving devotion to her family, Kathryn was life-long traveler, visiting all fifty US states and sixty-eight countries in Central and South America and the Caribbean, the South Pacific and Orient, Europe and Africa. Her favorite hobby was photography. A Reminiscences gathering for family and friends is planned for later in the spring. If desired, contributions can be made to the Kathryn Morgan Kelly Endowed Scholarship Fund, payable to SCSUF, mailed to Southern Connecticut State University Foundation, 501 Crescent Street, New Haven CT, 06515.