Maggi Kelly of Summit passed away at 91.SUMMIT — Maggi Kelly, a former resident of Summit, passed away on March 9, 2012 at the age of 91. She had suffered a stroke but died peacefully, surrounded by her children.
Born Agnes Bryan McGreevy in New York City in 1920, the fourth child of Irish immigrants, she was a graduate of Cathedral High School in Manhattan. During World War II, she served as a naval nurse stationed at Fort LeJeune, NC. Returning to New York after her service, she attended Columbia University and earned a masters in clinical psychology from Teacher’s College and studied for three years at the Institute for the Study of Psychotherapy in NY.
In 1948, she married Thomas L. Kelly who had grown up in her Upper West Side neighborhood. The two began raising a family in Schenectady, NY and later Winnetka, IL before moving to New Providence, NJ when Mr. Kelly was named Vice-President of R.H. Macy Co. Maggi Kelly lived in Summit from 1964 to 1980 and after years in Manhattan, Greenwich and Fairfield, CT, she returned to Chatham and then Basking Ridge in the 1990s.
During a long career as a psychotherapist and school psychologist, she worked at Millburn and Scotch Plains-Fanwood Schools in New Jersey, Greenwich Public Schools in CT and St. Agnes Hospital in White Plains, NY. and was a registered nurse. She was also a member of the Society for the Advancement of Psychoanalytic Development Psychology.
One of Maggi’s greatest passions was travel and she circled the globe numerous times, aboard great ocean liners such as The Holland America, QEII and The Cunard Line, touring not only every continent including Antarctica, but also visiting most countries of the world repeatedly.
A talented actress, Maggi was a member of The Summit Playhouse, starring in numerous productions from the early 1960s through the late 1990s including “Philadelphia, Here I Come,” “The Chalk Garden” and “The Curious Savage.”
She also directed plays there and appeared in productions of The Overlook Musical Theater. Nicknamed Mac and later known as Maggi, she was a member of Beacon Hill Club in Summit and Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield and, as an avid golfer, continued to play at the Summit Municipal Golf Course well into her 80s.
In 2005, Maggi left New Jersey to become a very active and much-loved resident at Duncaster Retirement Community in Bloomfield, CT, meeting many new friends and keeping busy with cultural and social projects, including acting in and directing plays, right up until her final days.
Maggi Kelly was predeceased by her siblings Brian in 1943, Eileen in 1955, Thomas in 1978 and by her husband Tom Kelly in 1976. Her mother, Anne McGreevy, lived with the family in New Jersey until age 98. Maggi is survived by her loving children; Summit High School graduates Kieran of University Park, MD, Loch and his wife Paige of New York City, Sean and his wife Megan of Fairfield, CT, and Jaime of West Stockbridge, MA and her two granddaughters, Patience Fairbrother, a student at Kenyon College, and Eliza Fairbrother at The Groton School.
Residents of Duncaster celebrated Maggi’s life at a lively and loving gathering on St. Patrick’s Day 2012. No formal memorial service is planned. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Doctors Without Borders, P.O. Box 5030 Hagerstown, MD 21741-5030.