“Quam bene vivas referre.” As a Latin major undergraduate at the College of Notre Dame in Baltimore, Maryland, Elma Marie (Kuchar) Kelley was introduced to the truism that would guide her almost century-long journey in a fulfilling, meaningful life. The maxim “It is how well you live that matters,” steered her through military service in World War II, marriage, widowhood, teaching, and raising a family that now spans four generations.
She passed away on February 28, 2016 in northern Virginia.
Born in Baltimore, Maryland on July 7, 1921, to Joseph James Kuchar and Frances Julia Kasal, she was the youngest of five daughters. She would outlive Helen, Camilla, Clara, and Berta. Her father was a career musician at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland while her mother tended a neighborhood store in the Eastport community.
She married George John Kelley, Jr., who she met while attending Annapolis (MD) High School, on August 11, 1942 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Earlier that year she had been the first of her family to complete college when she received her Bachelor of Arts (A.B.) degree with a teacher’s certificate, She majored in Latin and earned commendation for academic excellence.
While her husband served in the United States Army Air Force, she enrolled in the naval reserve and was commissioned in the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) after completing training at Smith College, Massachusetts. During World War II, Mrs. Kelley was assigned as a communications officer in the Navy’s highly acclaimed OP-20-G cryptologic unit in Washington, D.C. This classified unit ‘s mission was to intercept, decrypt, and analyze communications from Japanese, German, and Italian navies. She would later be recognized at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia.
Upon her husband’s return from internment, as a military aviator in Sweden, they began a family. Michael was born in 1945 followed by another son, Rodney two years later. A daughter, Patricia was born in 1951. Their final child, Martha, arrived in 1961. Her family later grew to include five grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
While managing a household and earning a graduate degree in Education from the George Washington University (Washington, D.C.), she pursued a successful teaching career until the age of 76. This included instructing a wide range of students in a plethora of settings worldwide. She taught English in Brazil, students attending parochial schools in Maryland, Virginia and Florida and service members stationed on Okinawa, Japan. She planned to instruct as a United States Peace Corps volunteer in Africa until brought home by illness.
Her husband passed away in 1979, after a career in the United States Air Force, where he rose to the rank of Colonel. After retirement, he was appointed to County Executive in Fairfax County, Virginia. Before and after this position, he earned a national reputation as a consultant rising to senior executive status of a worldwide environmental firm in Boston, Massachusetts.
During her over nine decades lifespan, she continued to espouse the tenets learned in her childhood as a fervent Roman Catholic. Commitment to family, God and country were the foundations of her well-lived purposeful lifetime.
Services and interment are presently pending with Arlington National Cemetery.
She passed away on February 28, 2016 in northern Virginia.
Born in Baltimore, Maryland on July 7, 1921, to Joseph James Kuchar and Frances Julia Kasal, she was the youngest of five daughters. She would outlive Helen, Camilla, Clara, and Berta. Her father was a career musician at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland while her mother tended a neighborhood store in the Eastport community.
She married George John Kelley, Jr., who she met while attending Annapolis (MD) High School, on August 11, 1942 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Earlier that year she had been the first of her family to complete college when she received her Bachelor of Arts (A.B.) degree with a teacher’s certificate, She majored in Latin and earned commendation for academic excellence.
While her husband served in the United States Army Air Force, she enrolled in the naval reserve and was commissioned in the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) after completing training at Smith College, Massachusetts. During World War II, Mrs. Kelley was assigned as a communications officer in the Navy’s highly acclaimed OP-20-G cryptologic unit in Washington, D.C. This classified unit ‘s mission was to intercept, decrypt, and analyze communications from Japanese, German, and Italian navies. She would later be recognized at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia.
Upon her husband’s return from internment, as a military aviator in Sweden, they began a family. Michael was born in 1945 followed by another son, Rodney two years later. A daughter, Patricia was born in 1951. Their final child, Martha, arrived in 1961. Her family later grew to include five grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
While managing a household and earning a graduate degree in Education from the George Washington University (Washington, D.C.), she pursued a successful teaching career until the age of 76. This included instructing a wide range of students in a plethora of settings worldwide. She taught English in Brazil, students attending parochial schools in Maryland, Virginia and Florida and service members stationed on Okinawa, Japan. She planned to instruct as a United States Peace Corps volunteer in Africa until brought home by illness.
Her husband passed away in 1979, after a career in the United States Air Force, where he rose to the rank of Colonel. After retirement, he was appointed to County Executive in Fairfax County, Virginia. Before and after this position, he earned a national reputation as a consultant rising to senior executive status of a worldwide environmental firm in Boston, Massachusetts.
During her over nine decades lifespan, she continued to espouse the tenets learned in her childhood as a fervent Roman Catholic. Commitment to family, God and country were the foundations of her well-lived purposeful lifetime.
Services and interment are presently pending with Arlington National Cemetery.
“Quam bene vivas referre.” As a Latin major undergraduate at the College of Notre Dame in Baltimore, Maryland, Elma Marie (Kuchar) Kelley was introduced to the truism that would guide her almost century-long journey in a fulfilling, meaningful life. The maxim “It is how well you live that matters,” steered her through military service in World War II, marriage, widowhood, teaching, and raising a family that now spans four generations.
She passed away on February 28, 2016 in northern Virginia.
Born in Baltimore, Maryland on July 7, 1921, to Joseph James Kuchar and Frances Julia Kasal, she was the youngest of five daughters. She would outlive Helen, Camilla, Clara, and Berta. Her father was a career musician at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland while her mother tended a neighborhood store in the Eastport community.
She married George John Kelley, Jr., who she met while attending Annapolis (MD) High School, on August 11, 1942 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Earlier that year she had been the first of her family to complete college when she received her Bachelor of Arts (A.B.) degree with a teacher’s certificate, She majored in Latin and earned commendation for academic excellence.
While her husband served in the United States Army Air Force, she enrolled in the naval reserve and was commissioned in the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) after completing training at Smith College, Massachusetts. During World War II, Mrs. Kelley was assigned as a communications officer in the Navy’s highly acclaimed OP-20-G cryptologic unit in Washington, D.C. This classified unit ‘s mission was to intercept, decrypt, and analyze communications from Japanese, German, and Italian navies. She would later be recognized at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia.
Upon her husband’s return from internment, as a military aviator in Sweden, they began a family. Michael was born in 1945 followed by another son, Rodney two years later. A daughter, Patricia was born in 1951. Their final child, Martha, arrived in 1961. Her family later grew to include five grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
While managing a household and earning a graduate degree in Education from the George Washington University (Washington, D.C.), she pursued a successful teaching career until the age of 76. This included instructing a wide range of students in a plethora of settings worldwide. She taught English in Brazil, students attending parochial schools in Maryland, Virginia and Florida and service members stationed on Okinawa, Japan. She planned to instruct as a United States Peace Corps volunteer in Africa until brought home by illness.
Her husband passed away in 1979, after a career in the United States Air Force, where he rose to the rank of Colonel. After retirement, he was appointed to County Executive in Fairfax County, Virginia. Before and after this position, he earned a national reputation as a consultant rising to senior executive status of a worldwide environmental firm in Boston, Massachusetts.
During her over nine decades lifespan, she continued to espouse the tenets learned in her childhood as a fervent Roman Catholic. Commitment to family, God and country were the foundations of her well-lived purposeful lifetime.
Services and interment are presently pending with Arlington National Cemetery.
She passed away on February 28, 2016 in northern Virginia.
Born in Baltimore, Maryland on July 7, 1921, to Joseph James Kuchar and Frances Julia Kasal, she was the youngest of five daughters. She would outlive Helen, Camilla, Clara, and Berta. Her father was a career musician at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland while her mother tended a neighborhood store in the Eastport community.
She married George John Kelley, Jr., who she met while attending Annapolis (MD) High School, on August 11, 1942 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Earlier that year she had been the first of her family to complete college when she received her Bachelor of Arts (A.B.) degree with a teacher’s certificate, She majored in Latin and earned commendation for academic excellence.
While her husband served in the United States Army Air Force, she enrolled in the naval reserve and was commissioned in the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) after completing training at Smith College, Massachusetts. During World War II, Mrs. Kelley was assigned as a communications officer in the Navy’s highly acclaimed OP-20-G cryptologic unit in Washington, D.C. This classified unit ‘s mission was to intercept, decrypt, and analyze communications from Japanese, German, and Italian navies. She would later be recognized at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia.
Upon her husband’s return from internment, as a military aviator in Sweden, they began a family. Michael was born in 1945 followed by another son, Rodney two years later. A daughter, Patricia was born in 1951. Their final child, Martha, arrived in 1961. Her family later grew to include five grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
While managing a household and earning a graduate degree in Education from the George Washington University (Washington, D.C.), she pursued a successful teaching career until the age of 76. This included instructing a wide range of students in a plethora of settings worldwide. She taught English in Brazil, students attending parochial schools in Maryland, Virginia and Florida and service members stationed on Okinawa, Japan. She planned to instruct as a United States Peace Corps volunteer in Africa until brought home by illness.
Her husband passed away in 1979, after a career in the United States Air Force, where he rose to the rank of Colonel. After retirement, he was appointed to County Executive in Fairfax County, Virginia. Before and after this position, he earned a national reputation as a consultant rising to senior executive status of a worldwide environmental firm in Boston, Massachusetts.
During her over nine decades lifespan, she continued to espouse the tenets learned in her childhood as a fervent Roman Catholic. Commitment to family, God and country were the foundations of her well-lived purposeful lifetime.
Services and interment are presently pending with Arlington National Cemetery.
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