Rose Mary Kelly

ROSE M. KELLY 1925 - 2013 Chandler, AZ - Rose Mary (Coulson) Kelly died Monday, May 27, 2013 at the Sterling House in Chandler, AZ with her loving family by her side. She was 87. Rose was born in 1925 to Richard Carte and Hilda (Napier-Hemy) Coulson in London, England. She grew up in the Camberwell district of south London, England. When war broke out she and her sister were sent to a boarding school in Teignmouth, Devon and, after their neighborhood in London was bombed in the blitz her parents also moved out of London to St. Ives, Cornwall. At the end of the war Rose studied midwifery and practiced in East London. After her Father died she moved back to St. Ives and worked as a midwife in Hale Hospital where she met her future husband, Patrick Kelly, an intern doctor at the hospital. A year later, Rose followed him to New York, NY where they were married in November 1952. They then moved to Bluefield, West Virginia and her husband worked in the local hospital before securing a private practice in Saskatchewan, Canada where they moved in December 1953. Rose lived in Canada for the next 16 years raising their six children, the last 9 of those years in Sydney, Nova Scotia, before the family moved to Pittsfield, New Hampshire. Once the children were teenagers, Rose returned to college and received a bachelor's degree in nursing, specializing in geriatric care. She worked in the Concord area before moving to Exeter, NH and then the Tampa area in Florida, where she continued nursing with dedication until she retired at the age of 70. Rose was very involved in her parish - no matter where she lived - and practiced what she believed, always the first to help a friend or neighbor in need and care for the sick and less fortunate. She was a wonderful cook and baker, her vegetable and flower gardens were always bountiful and she was a creative poet and writer as well as avid reader. She dearly loved her far-flung family and visited no matter how great the distance. She had boundless energy and a great sense of humor, could walk and bike for miles, and was kind-hearted and generous. Rose is preceded in death by her husband of 37 years, Patrick Anthony Kelly; her parents, Richard and Hilda Coulson; her sister, Anne Coulson Watts and her brother-in-law, Peter Watts. Rose is survived by her six children: daughter, Deirdre and her husband, Patrick O'Brien of Boston, Ireland and their children, Aishling, Rowan, Barry and Jessica; son Gerard and his wife, Kate of Ketchum, Idaho; daughter Patricia Kelly and her partner, Keith Eveland of Rye, NH; son Barry and his wife, Maria of Phoenix, AZ and their children Stephen and John; daughter, Angela of Malden, MA; and son, Richard of Seattle, WA. Visitation will be held at Reese Funeral Home, 6767 Seminole Blvd., Seminole, FL 33772 on Monday, June 3, 2013 from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm. Funeral mass will be celebrated at Blessed Sacrament, 11565 66th Avenue North, Seminole, FL 33772 on Tuesday, June 4 at 10:00 am with Father James Gordon officiating. Interment will follow at Calvary Catholic Cemetery, 5233 118th Avenue North, Clearwater, FL 33760. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made in her name to Alzheimer's Association, P.O. Box 96011, Washington, DC 20090-6011 (www.alz.org). The family wishes to extend their gratitude to The Sterling House of Chandler, AZ for their kind and attentive care. "all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow rover, And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over."