Marianne P Kelly

East Berne - Marianne Peckham Kelly, a part-time resident of Okaloosa and Escambia counties since the mid-1980s, died Sept. 25 at her home in East Berne, New York, less than three months shy of her 90th birthday, following a stroke four days earlier.

Marianne Peckham was born in Fayetteville, New York, on Dec. 17, 1934, to Lawrence (Larry) and Florence (nee' Phelps) Peckham. Florence died in 1940, and Larry then married Barbara Stebbins.

Marianne was a graduate of Cobleskill (NY) High School and the New York State College for Teachers at Albany (now UAlbany), where she fell in love with her peer biology tutor, Richard D. Kelly. They married in 1954, and lived in the Albany metropolitan area full-time until the mid-1980s, when they began spending several months a year in Ft. Walton Beach (while keeping their home in East Berne); they moved their Florida base of operations to Pensacola in the mid-1990s. She moved full-time to her East Berne home earlier this year.

She was an educator who taught middle-school English in the Albany area (while living in the Panhandle, she tutored part-time at NAS Pensacola - her husband, meanwhile, was teaching biology at the University of West Florida). She revered the literary imagination, with special love for Joyce, Beckett, the Bronte sisters, and Jane Austen. She was also passionate about opera, Billie Holiday, following current affairs in The New York Times and New Yorker magazine, Turner Classic Movies (favorites included "Key West," "The Man Who Came to Dinner," and actor Lyle Talbot), baking the best strawberry rhubarb pie in the universe, the Yankees, British detective shows, "Lord of the Rings," and "Game of Thrones."

She was predeceased by her parents and stepmother; her husband Richard; her son Richard Kelly Jr; and her brothers Tom and Dave Peckham. The grieving family she leaves behind includes her children Kristen Korkos (Dennis) of San Rafael, California; Don Kelly (Donna) of Altamont, New York; and Kate Kelly (Bernard Ohanian) of Washington, D.C.; her grandchildren Jaime Korkos of Hopkinton, Massachusetts; Nicholas Korkos of New York City; Rafael Ohanian of East Berne, New York; Sofia Ohanian of Los Angeles; Madison Gordon (Cody) of Old Lyme, Connecticut; and Emma Kelly of Altamont, New York; her great-grandsons Theo and Finn Gordon of Old Lyme, Connecticut; her brothers Bill Peckham (Jayne) of Poughkeepsie, New York, and Larry Peckham (Mary Martha, aka Marty) of Escondido, California; her nephews Tom Peckham (Nancy) of Seattle; Dennis Peckham (Dorian) of Ridgefield, Connecticut; and Ken Van Hatten (Tina) of Theresa, New York; her nieces Diane Wallis (Gary) of Woodstock, Georgia, and Stephanie Peckham of San Antonio; her cousins Ginny Peckham of Salisbury, Maryland; Lee Terry (Tom) of Storrs, Connecticut; Patricia Muglin of Yorktown Heights, New York; Lynne Carvel of Pittsburgh; and Hoyt Peckham (Joan) of Livonia, Michigan; and several great-nieces and great-nephews. She is also survived by her cat Smokey.

She was a devoted member of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Pensacola.

She will be remembered by her family and many friends for her deep humility, abiding gentleness, resilience, and sharp perceptions. All who knew her will miss her vibrant and spacious spirit and sly sense of humor and will forever cherish her curiosity about people and the world.

Plans for a memorial service are pending.