Ellen Finn

Ellen Brady Finn passed away on February 16, 2026 at Glacier Hills Senior Living Community in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She was 91.

Ellen Chatham Brady was born on May 25, 1934, in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC, to Francis I. Brady and Sue Birnie Brady. The second of six children, she moved with her family in 1940 to Portsmouth, Rhode Island, where her father was the Assistant Head Master of the Portsmouth Priory School. At that time, the Portsmouth Priory was a school for boys, so she attended the public Roger's High School in nearby Newport, where she distinguished herself academically, earning a scholarship to Wellesley College in Massachusetts.

While at Wellesley, she once again attained academic success, including membership in the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society and earning a coveted Fullbright scholarship to study classical archeology. Even more fateful than her academic achievements, her time at Wellesley brought her into the orbit of a handsome Harvard man, Thomas J. Finn, Jr. Tom and Ellen's courtship soon led to a marriage that lasted from 1956 until his death in 2013 and produced five children and seven grandchildren.

The demands of marriage and motherhood put her career ambitions on hold, but she never lost her passion for classical languages and literature. In 1975 at the age of 41, she earned a master's degree from Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan, which led to her career as a teacher of Latin, Greek, English and History at The Academy of the Sacred Heart in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan until her retirement in 1995.

In retirement, she continued to pursue her passions for visual art and creative writing, while also enjoying her time with her family. After the death of her husband Thomas Finn in 2013, she moved from her home in Franklin, Michigan to the Glacier Hills community in Ann Arbor, where she met her second husband, Doug Kelley, who passed away in 2022.

She touched the lives of many people through her teaching, her art, and her commitment to those she loved. Friends and family will always cherish the memory of the many gatherings Ellen hosted at the family home in Franklin, Michigan.

She is survived by her five children, Tony (Mary Minnet) Finn, Louise Gould, Lucy (Dean) Hully, William (Cynthia Boschman) Finn, and Catherine (Ross Hammond) Finn; her stepson, Peter (Valerie Briggs) Kelley; her seven grandchildren, Matthew (Angela Apana) Finn, Angelica (Mike Thompson) Gould, Max (Ruth Buck) Hully, Mason Anny Hully, Emily (Derek Barton) Finn, Ellen Finn and Hugo Hammond; her sister, Sue Wankowitz; sisters-in-law, Sally Brady and Marion Brady; and numerous nieces and nephews. She was also step-grandmother to Miles Kelley and step-great-grandmother to Mila and West Thompson.

She was predeceased by her brothers, Francis Brady, Upton Brady, and Jeremiah Brady; her sister, Lucy Talbot; and her husbands, Thomas J. Finn, Jr. and Doug Kelley.

A memorial service will be held at Nie Family Funeral Home, Liberty Road Chapel, 3767 W. Liberty Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan on Friday, April 10, at 11:00 am. A luncheon will follow at Weber's Inn in Ann Arbor.