Betty Jane Kelly

Betty Jane Kelly of Gainesville, Virginia, passed away peacefully on October 25, 2024. She was born on August 11, 1935, in St. Louis, Missouri, to Jack and LaVerne (Olson) Walcott. She graduated from Riverview Gardens High School in 1953, and then became the first person in her family to go to college. She graduated from the University of Missouri in 1958 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Education. The University of Missouri is where she would meet Benjamin Irving Kelly, whom she married in December of 1958. After living in Kansas City, Missouri and Wichita, where their daughter Pamela Ann Kelly was born, they moved on to Cheyenne, Chicago, Louisville, and Greenville, Indiana, eventually settling in Northern Virginia. Betty tried various occupations over the years, including as a social worker, office manager, and substitute teacher, but remembered the years she taught kindergarten in Louisville with particular fondness. She would later go on to get her real estate license, working at Long and Foster in Fairfax, Virginia. She is survived by her husband Benjamin Kelly, her daughter Pamela Kelly, her sister Peggy (Walcott) Linsin, her niece Monica (Linsin) Podlesh, and her nephew James Ross Walcott Linsin.