Jessie Cobane Kelly
August 13, 1908 – November 14, 1990
Leo
World's Greatest Lovers
My mother could be born under no other sign. She wrote the play book on how to love your way through life. There were no limits to the number of people her heart could treasure.
She was a worker. She accomplished something every day; often by acquiring a new skill.
She was as confident in cutting and sewing her first sail as in making matching pajamas for a dozen grandchildren. Her creations transformed her first daughters into Grace Kelly and Scarlet O'Hara and later when she had to navigate the 60s with a couple more teenagers, she hung denim jeans on the line and hosed and then soaked them until they were appropriately faded for the fashion.
Uncle Fred quotes:
Some facts:
Her father George Cobane died when she was 5; leaving Charlotte (10 ) and baby George (5 weeks).
Her mother remarried five months later and added Freddie, David and Anna Maria who died at 10 months. My mother, then 12, felt that loss deeply. A year later 1922, my mother's dear German Grandmother Barbara Hess Stephan died. I think she is the source of many of my mother's essential qualities, except for the hair. Barbara had beautiful waist length white hair that she wore braided around her head. Barbara lived with them on West 54th Street for the years before her death. She was a nurturing presence in my mother's life.
Stepfather John Hahn died when my mother was 21.
At 15, my mother began working at Lord & Taylor to help support her family.
She worked for the telephone company until she married.
She developed a love of theatre when she ushered at Broadway theatres part time in the 1920s and 30s. Remembered the kindness of Helen Gahagan Douglas or Clare Boothe Luce.
As a young woman, she loved beautiful lingerie, dancing in glamorous hotel ballrooms and her circle of warm, funny friends who were devoted to her. She had lovely hands and nails, no vanity, and a spiritual side that led her to convert to Catholism at 17 years of age.
Her friend Mary Cryan was instrumental in my mother's conversion. Mary introduced my mother to a young cleric in the parish, William Scully. He baptized my mother in her new faith and later officiated at her wedding. He held a very special place in my mother's heart. He later became Bishop of Albany. Mary Cryan died of breast cancer as a young woman. She would visit my mother in dreams later in life; always as a comfort.
RKM
August 13, 1908 – November 14, 1990
Leo
World's Greatest Lovers
My mother could be born under no other sign. She wrote the play book on how to love your way through life. There were no limits to the number of people her heart could treasure.
She was a worker. She accomplished something every day; often by acquiring a new skill.
She was as confident in cutting and sewing her first sail as in making matching pajamas for a dozen grandchildren. Her creations transformed her first daughters into Grace Kelly and Scarlet O'Hara and later when she had to navigate the 60s with a couple more teenagers, she hung denim jeans on the line and hosed and then soaked them until they were appropriately faded for the fashion.
Uncle Fred quotes:
Some facts:
Her father George Cobane died when she was 5; leaving Charlotte (10 ) and baby George (5 weeks).
Her mother remarried five months later and added Freddie, David and Anna Maria who died at 10 months. My mother, then 12, felt that loss deeply. A year later 1922, my mother's dear German Grandmother Barbara Hess Stephan died. I think she is the source of many of my mother's essential qualities, except for the hair. Barbara had beautiful waist length white hair that she wore braided around her head. Barbara lived with them on West 54th Street for the years before her death. She was a nurturing presence in my mother's life.
Stepfather John Hahn died when my mother was 21.
At 15, my mother began working at Lord & Taylor to help support her family.
She worked for the telephone company until she married.
She developed a love of theatre when she ushered at Broadway theatres part time in the 1920s and 30s. Remembered the kindness of Helen Gahagan Douglas or Clare Boothe Luce.
As a young woman, she loved beautiful lingerie, dancing in glamorous hotel ballrooms and her circle of warm, funny friends who were devoted to her. She had lovely hands and nails, no vanity, and a spiritual side that led her to convert to Catholism at 17 years of age.
Her friend Mary Cryan was instrumental in my mother's conversion. Mary introduced my mother to a young cleric in the parish, William Scully. He baptized my mother in her new faith and later officiated at her wedding. He held a very special place in my mother's heart. He later became Bishop of Albany. Mary Cryan died of breast cancer as a young woman. She would visit my mother in dreams later in life; always as a comfort.
RKM
Jessie Cobane Kelly
August 13, 1908 – November 14, 1990
Leo
World's Greatest Lovers
My mother could be born under no other sign. She wrote the play book on how to love your way through life. There were no limits to the number of people her heart could treasure.
She was a worker. She accomplished something every day; often by acquiring a new skill.
She was as confident in cutting and sewing her first sail as in making matching pajamas for a dozen grandchildren. Her creations transformed her first daughters into Grace Kelly and Scarlet O'Hara and later when she had to navigate the 60s with a couple more teenagers, she hung denim jeans on the line and hosed and then soaked them until they were appropriately faded for the fashion.
Uncle Fred quotes:
Some facts:
Her father George Cobane died when she was 5; leaving Charlotte (10 ) and baby George (5 weeks).
Her mother remarried five months later and added Freddie, David and Anna Maria who died at 10 months. My mother, then 12, felt that loss deeply. A year later 1922, my mother's dear German Grandmother Barbara Hess Stephan died. I think she is the source of many of my mother's essential qualities, except for the hair. Barbara had beautiful waist length white hair that she wore braided around her head. Barbara lived with them on West 54th Street for the years before her death. She was a nurturing presence in my mother's life.
Stepfather John Hahn died when my mother was 21.
At 15, my mother began working at Lord & Taylor to help support her family.
She worked for the telephone company until she married.
She developed a love of theatre when she ushered at Broadway theatres part time in the 1920s and 30s. Remembered the kindness of Helen Gahagan Douglas or Clare Boothe Luce.
As a young woman, she loved beautiful lingerie, dancing in glamorous hotel ballrooms and her circle of warm, funny friends who were devoted to her. She had lovely hands and nails, no vanity, and a spiritual side that led her to convert to Catholism at 17 years of age.
Her friend Mary Cryan was instrumental in my mother's conversion. Mary introduced my mother to a young cleric in the parish, William Scully. He baptized my mother in her new faith and later officiated at her wedding. He held a very special place in my mother's heart. He later became Bishop of Albany. Mary Cryan died of breast cancer as a young woman. She would visit my mother in dreams later in life; always as a comfort.
RKM
August 13, 1908 – November 14, 1990
Leo
World's Greatest Lovers
My mother could be born under no other sign. She wrote the play book on how to love your way through life. There were no limits to the number of people her heart could treasure.
She was a worker. She accomplished something every day; often by acquiring a new skill.
She was as confident in cutting and sewing her first sail as in making matching pajamas for a dozen grandchildren. Her creations transformed her first daughters into Grace Kelly and Scarlet O'Hara and later when she had to navigate the 60s with a couple more teenagers, she hung denim jeans on the line and hosed and then soaked them until they were appropriately faded for the fashion.
Uncle Fred quotes:
Some facts:
Her father George Cobane died when she was 5; leaving Charlotte (10 ) and baby George (5 weeks).
Her mother remarried five months later and added Freddie, David and Anna Maria who died at 10 months. My mother, then 12, felt that loss deeply. A year later 1922, my mother's dear German Grandmother Barbara Hess Stephan died. I think she is the source of many of my mother's essential qualities, except for the hair. Barbara had beautiful waist length white hair that she wore braided around her head. Barbara lived with them on West 54th Street for the years before her death. She was a nurturing presence in my mother's life.
Stepfather John Hahn died when my mother was 21.
At 15, my mother began working at Lord & Taylor to help support her family.
She worked for the telephone company until she married.
She developed a love of theatre when she ushered at Broadway theatres part time in the 1920s and 30s. Remembered the kindness of Helen Gahagan Douglas or Clare Boothe Luce.
As a young woman, she loved beautiful lingerie, dancing in glamorous hotel ballrooms and her circle of warm, funny friends who were devoted to her. She had lovely hands and nails, no vanity, and a spiritual side that led her to convert to Catholism at 17 years of age.
Her friend Mary Cryan was instrumental in my mother's conversion. Mary introduced my mother to a young cleric in the parish, William Scully. He baptized my mother in her new faith and later officiated at her wedding. He held a very special place in my mother's heart. He later became Bishop of Albany. Mary Cryan died of breast cancer as a young woman. She would visit my mother in dreams later in life; always as a comfort.
RKM
