Edward Leo Kelley
April 12, 1933-May 1, 2025
A few years ago, while walking home from Market Basket with one of his granddaughters, Ed Kelley asked if they could walk a little slower.
“I’m slowing down, hon,” he said. “I’m getting old! But it’s okay. I’ve had a good life. I love my wife. I have four good kids, eight good grandkids, all these great-grandkids. I’ve had a very good life.”
Edward Leo Kelley of Somerville, Massachusetts died at home the morning of May 1, 2025 — not far from where his life began 92 years earlier.
He was born to William and Mary (Crowley) Kelley on April 12, 1933 on Village Street in Somerville, and lived nearly all of his life just one street over, on Nevada Ave. As the city changed around him, he remained kind, generous, and very, very funny.
He met his wife, Patricia Morrissey, at a CYO baseball game when they were teenagers. During their courtship, Ed once asked Pat what he should wear on a date. “I don’t care, wear what you want,” she said. He showed up in his pajamas. She says it drove her crazy, but in truth she loved it — they were married for 70 years.
Nothing made Ed happier than his wife and their family. Together, they had four children, eight grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren, and Ed teased them all lovingly and relentlessly. They teased back by gifting him boxes of Cheez-Its and Hershey bars for most holidays, and by giving him one dollar bills in his birthday cards.
He bought Pat a new pair of pajamas every Christmas and often brought frozen waffles home from the grocery store — Pat liked them, but she never put them on the list. He spent countless hours at baseball, hockey and basketball games, at dance recitals, putting together toys and bikes, and fishing in Stover’s Cove. He claimed to have collected enough cans and bottles to have the return deposits pay for a whole family trip to Disney World — twice.
Ed was proud to work at Harvard University for 65 years. He started out running linotype machines there in 1959, printing diplomas in a job that was only supposed to last 90 days. In 1982, computers took over the print shop and Ed became a foreman for Harvard Buildings and Grounds. He planted trees and shrubs, mulched the Yard, and shoveled mountains of snow until he “retired” in 1999. After just a few months, he returned, this time to work at the Malkin Athletic Center (“The Mac”) and eventually the Hemenway Gym.
Working at the front desk of the gym was the perfect job for Ed, who was always curious about people. He walked the mile and a quarter from his house to the gym in the wee hours of every weekday for almost 20 years — the doors opened at 5 a.m. Once he was there, he got to tease people for hours. If someone asked for a yoga class pass, he’d ask, “chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry?” If someone asked for a band-aid, he’d quip, “that’ll be fifty cents. Harvard needs the money.”
Every year on his birthday, his daughter Susan had to pick him up from work – not because they were doing something special, but because he couldn’t possibly carry home all of the cards, signs, candy, cakes (yes, cakes plural), bottles of wine (which he didn’t even drink), and Harvard gear.
He liked to tell people that after 60-something years at Harvard, he still hadn’t graduated. It was a joke, but he relished the education he received from all of the Harvard students, faculty and staff he got to know over the years.
He loved goulash, green pepper and onion pizza, Pepsi, donuts, ice cream, caramel cremes, and whatever was in the candy jar next to his La-Z-Boy while he watched old Westerns and M*A*S*H reruns. He had a glorious head of hair but always topped it with a baseball hat. He frequently bought coats for co-workers shocked by their first winter in Boston. He called his siblings every Saturday. He and Pat opened their home to many family members in need, and helped people get back on their feet after a stumble.
Ed loved sports, particularly baseball and hockey. He played baseball and later umpired Cambridge Little League games. He was more invested in his children’s, grandchildren’s, and great-grandchildren’s teams than he was in the pros.
Ed joked a lot, but he was serious about being good to everyone he met. He didn’t have to try, that’s just how he was. Ed — or Hon, Dad, Pa, Uncle Ed, or Mr. Kelley, depending on who you talk to — was deeply adored, and he will be dearly missed.
Ed is survived by his wife of 70 years, Patricia (Morrissey) Kelley, and their four children Edward Leo Kelley Jr. (Leanne), Susan Kelley O’Hare, Karen Kelley Moody (Nelson), and Christine Kelley; grandchildren Edward Leo Kelley III, Melissa Moody (Dale Real), Danielle Moody (Matt Perry), Kelley-Ann Moody Morgan (Kris Morgan), Erin O’Hare (Davis Salisbury), Nicholas Kelley (Heather Snell), Joseph L. O’Hare IV, and Cody Caron (Autumn Richardson); great-grandchildren Logan Moody, Mia Real, Kameron Morgan, Katalina Morgan, Dean Real, Mason Kelley, Noah Kelley, Jensen Caron, and Emily Kelley; and siblings William Kelley, Patricia Kelley Hourihan, MaryEllen Kelley Nerney, and Joanie Lonchic.
He was preceded in death by his parents; his brothers George and Owen Kelley; and his sisters Rose Kelley King and Carol Kelley McKenna.
A funeral mass will be held on Wednesday, May 7th in St. Joseph Church, 262 Washington St., Somerville at 10:00AM. Please meet directly at church.
Relatives and friends are respectfully invited to attend.
Calling Hours will be held on Tuesday in the George L. Doherty Funeral Home 855 Broadway (Powder House Sq.) from 4:00PM to 7:00PM.
Services will conclude with burial at Cambridge Cemetery, Cambridge.