Peter Kelly M.D.

1928 - 2015

Peter Kelly, M.D., 87
PORTLAND
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Peter Kelly, M.D., 87, passed away on Oct. 7, 2015 at home surrounded by his family. Born Feb. 8, 1928 in Kildare, Ireland to Laurence and Mary Kelly, he grew up one of eight children on a farm in Athai. He attended the University of Dublin where he obtained his medical degree and where he met and married D. Anne Fitzgerald.
After completing his residency, Peter joined the British Foreign Medical Service and was stationed in what was then Rhodesia, South Africa. His time in Africa was constituted not only by a commitment to providing medical care to those who would have otherwise gone without but also by his desire for a certain freedom and adventure that some would not have suspected had they met him later in life.
Peter immigrated to the United States to accept a residency in psychiatry at Yale University and joined the staff at Fairfield Hills Mental Hospital. In 1966, after years of vacationing with his family at their camp on Long Lake, he accepted the position of Director of Outpatient Services at Maine Medical Center. He later opened a private practice in psychiatry in Portland, retiring in 2009.
While in private practice, then a specialist in working with those suffering from severe depression, he would allow a wide variety of patients to pay what they could, on a sliding scale. He could have chosen otherwise but this would have been contrary to his nature, to his decency and empathy for those who suffer.
Although he enjoyed living in Maine, Peter remained an Irish citizen immensely proud of his heritage and the role his family played in the Gaelic Athletic Association. His grandfather P.J. Kelly was one of the founders of that association, which was established to ensure the survival of Gaelic sports and culture and remains the ruling body for all Gaelic sports to this day.
While connected to his Irish roots by James Joyce and all his complex work he was also, much to one of his sons deep sorrow [and much to the glee and approval of a son similarly afflicted] a New England Patriots fan, and in his later years there was little he more enjoyed than seeing them vaporize their opposition. Peter loved gardening and racing sail boats as navigator on his friend Del Damboice's sailboat, Barbara, and later became an avid collector of antique tools.
Peter cherished his friendship with the late Dr. Alan Anton and was a man of exceptional kindness and decency, an amazing father, husband, friend and physician who was loved by everyone who had the good fortune to know him.
Peter was predeceased by his first wife, D. Anne Kelly; and two sons, Owen P. and Peter W. Kelly. He is survived by his wife, Dr. Alice Rose; his sons Bryan and Colin Kelly, his daughter Deirdre Kelly, two stepchildren, Michael Towne and Lauren McClelland; and two brothers, Tony and Seamus Kelly.
At his request, there will be no funeral or memorial service. His family asks that donations be made to the Hospice Division of the Visiting Nurses Association in gratitude for their help, which was invaluable in assuring he could remain at home at the end of his life. The family also wishes to express their gratitude for the kind and compassionate care provided by Dr. Timothy Carnes.

In lieu of flowers, donations be made to:
The Hospice Division of the Visiting Nurses Association
VNA Hospice
50 Foden Road,
South Portland, ME, 04106