Ethel Elsie Kelly

On December 12, 2022, in the early morning hours, Ethel Elise Kelly was called home. Her passing leaves a hole in the hearts of her loved ones. Elise, as she preferred to be called, leaves behind her sister, Sister Anne Kelly, SBS, her son, Dr. Kofi Jahi Adisa, her daughter-in-law, Angela T. Wilson, and her grandchildren, David Anthony Kelly, Joseph Delonte Kelly (both sons of her late daughter Jacqueline Christine Kelly), Nassir Nicolas Wilson-Adisa, and Amani Krystal Wilson-Adisa (son and daughter to Angela and Jahi, as she called him). Born in Chicago on March 15, 1950, to Virginia and William Charles Kelly, Elise grew up with her sister, Anne, mother, and two aunts— Harriet Louise Mitchell and Virgie Clark Mitchell. She loved music, dancing, and would take socks as a child and roll them into various shapes and create stories about them. By the 70s, she and her mom had moved to Washington, DC. Elise worked as an elevator operator while Virginia worked as dietitian at Sibley Memorial Hospital. Elise met Donald Llewellyn and they had her first child, Jackie, and eleven months and twenty-seven days later her son, Joseph, who decades later changed his name to Kofi Jahi Adisa. Though Donald and Elise’s relationship didn’t last, Elise managed with her mom continued to rear their children. Elise was an avid album collector and reader. At one point, she owned well over a thousand albums. She loved Elvis, Peabo Bryson, Roberta Flack, Marvin Gaye, all things Motown and the Philly Sound of Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes. She was a Stephen King-fan, and when his books became films, such as Christine and Fire Starter, she would often take her children to the nearby theater to watch them. In fact, as a huge horror-genre films fan, she would watch old fifties horror movies on television with her children. She loved laughing, playing card games, and watching soap operas. She played with her children, took them to Great Adventures, and was proud of their accomplishments. She’d always believed Jackie and Joseph (Jahi, as she later called him) would do well in life. She will be missed by those closest to her and who knew her well. .

Ethel Elsie Kelly

March 15, 1950 - December 12, 2022