Helen Pauline Kelley

Helen Pauline Kelley, a retired Cal Poly professor, died Friday, Nov. 17, 2006, at French Hospital from a respiratory illness. She was 84. A memorial service will be held at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2006, at First Presbyterian Church in San Luis Obispo. She was born March 1, 1922 in Buelle, Mo. She remained in the Midwest until she was widowed at the age of 40. She attended University of Kansas in Lawrence before being accepted at Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, Calif. Graduating in 1965 from Brooks with her bachelor's degree, she accepted a teaching position at Cal Poly in the journalism department in the fall of 1966. She taught photography, first in the journalism department and then in the art department. She subsequently received her master's degree in mass communications at San Jose State in the 1970s. Kelley started a photography option within the Cal Poly art department, an accomplishment of which she was most proud. During her tenure there she served as temporary department head. She was selected in 1979 to exhibit her photography as part of an exhibition of women photographers in Washington D.C. at the Rayburn Building. She retired from Cal Poly in 1985, and remained in San Luis Obispo. She was a long term member of First Presbyterian Church of SLO, and for several years, published its monthly newsletter, "The Kirk," with her distinctive style of photography and editorials. She is preceded in death by her first husband Randall P. Cobum in 1962, her second husband George W. Kelley in 1999, and by her brothers, Floyd M. Ham and Howard M. Ham, PhD, ThD. She is survived by her two daughters, Anne Cobum of Tucson, Ariz. and Jo Cobum, M.D. of Sacramento, Calif., and her four grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, the family appreciates donations in Helen's name to your favorite charity.