Marianne P. Kelly

Marianne Peckham Kelly, a lifelong resident of Schoharie and Albany counties, died Sept. 25 at her East Berne home, less than three months shy of her 90th birthday, following a stroke four days earlier.

Marianne Peckham was born in Fayetteville on Dec. 17, 1934, to Lawrence (Larry) and Florence (nee' Phelps) Peckham, and moved with her family to Cobleskill as a toddler. Florence died in 1940, and Larry then married Barbara Stebbins.

Marianne was a graduate of Cobleskill High School and the New York State College for Teachers at Albany, where she fell in love with her peer biology tutor, Richard D. Kelly. They married in 1954, and raised their four children in Altamont, moving to East Berne in the mid-1980s after they became empty nesters. Richard, a retired UAlbany biology professor, died in January of 2013. They also spent a few months a year living in the Florida Panhandle, beginning in the mid-1980s, until Marianne moved full-time to the East Berne home earlier this year.

After working at Howe Caverns while attending high school and college, she taught English at several schools, most notably Hackett Middle School in Albany. She revered the literary imagination, with special love for Joyce, Beckett, the Bronte sisters, and Jane Austen. She was also passionate about opera, Billie Holiday, following current affairs in The New York Times and New Yorker magazine, Turner Classic Movies (favorites included "Key West," "The Man Who Came to Dinner," and actor Lyle Talbot), baking the best strawberry rhubarb pie in the universe, the Yankees, British detective shows, "Lord of the Rings," and "Game of Thrones."

She was predeceased by her parents and stepmother; her husband Richard; her son Richard Kelly Jr; and her brothers Tom and Dave Peckham. The grieving family she leaves behind includes her children Kristen Korkos (Dennis) of San Rafael, California; Don Kelly (Donna) of Altamont; and Kate Kelly (Bernard Ohanian) of Washington, D.C.; her grandchildren Jaime Korkos of Hopkinton, Massachusetts; Nicholas Korkos of New York City; Rafael Ohanian of East Berne; Sofia Ohanian of Los Angeles; Madison Gordon (Cody) of Old Lyme, Connecticut; and Emma Kelly of Altamont; her great-grandsons Theo and Finn Gordon of Old Lyme, Connecticut; her brothers Bill Peckham (Jayne) of Poughkeepsie and Larry Peckham (Mary Martha, aka Marty) of Escondido, California; her nephews Tom Peckham (Nancy) of Seattle; Dennis Peckham (Dorian) of Ridgefield, Connecticut; and Ken Van Hatten (Tina) of Theresa; her nieces Diane Wallis (Gary) of Woodstock, Georgia, and Stephanie Peckham of San Antonio; her cousins Ginny Peckham of Salisbury, Maryland; Lee Terry (Tom) of Storrs, Connecticut; Patricia Muglin of Yorktown Heights; Lynne Carvel of Pittsburgh; and Hoyt Peckham (Joan) of Livonia, Michigan; and several great-nieces and great-nephews. She is also survived by her cat Smokey.

She was a devoted member of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Pensacola.

She will be remembered by her family and many friends for her deep humility, abiding gentleness, resilience, and sharp perceptions. All who knew her will miss her vibrant and spacious spirit and sly sense of humor, and will forever cherish her curiosity about people and the world.

Plans for a memorial service are pending.