Marilyn G. Kelley, 88, of Naples, FL and Rochester, MA, died suddenly on Easter Eve, April 8th. She was the loving wife of the late John Dillon “Jack” Kelley, her Horace Greeley High School sweetheart, where she was the Student Class Secretary, Cheerleader, and Homecoming Queen. She was a devoted caregiver to John who predeceased her in 2019. They celebrated 65 exciting years together.
Her sweet, gentle nature and intellectual curiosity belied her spicy sense of humor, much to the surprise and delight of everyone she knew. She was a devoted mother of four daughters, and a beloved and trusted friend who helped perfect strangers in time of need.
Born in Detroit, MI, Marilyn was the daughter of the late Dr. Clyde William and Edna (Monroe) Geiter. “Doc” Geiter had five different medical degrees, and painted detailed pictures of diseases to accompany his monthly articles published in the American Medical Journal where he was dubbed, “The Salvador Dali” of doctors. As a young girl, Marilyn studied classical ballet and piano. Her family eventually moved to Kansas City, MO and then to Chappaqua, NY until Marilyn attended Bradford Junior College in Haverill, MA.
Following graduation, Marilyn got her first job in NYC selling ad time on various TV stations, and later worked as a bookkeeper for Transcommunications in Greenwich, CT. While her own daughters were young, she also taught ballet to others in their first home in Port Chester, NY. Her daughters watched with fascination as her fingers flew up and down the keyboard, playing Tico Tico (Google it!). Then in 1965, while living in Greenwich with her husband and four daughters, Marilyn received her Certificate of Design from the Chicago Institute of Art and did a masterful job decorating their stately Victorian home and subsequent homes. She later taught exercise for Lifetime Fitness, teaching the Boutelle method – now known as Pilates – in Greenwich, and later in Portsmouth, NH. There, she auditioned with Ballet New England and was cast as the Grandmother in the Nutcracker, a role she played for three years, as well as other characters. She loved the cast and characters and was happy to go back to her classical ballet roots. An avid Sudoku and word puzzle master, skilled in needlecrafts and knitting, she was never idle.
Always a performer, Marilyn enjoyed doing song and dance vignettes with her adult daughters at her husband Jack’s Birthday parties. But her favorite role was storyteller. In 2013, she published, For Love and Money: The Brazil Affair, The Story Of A Family’s Quest (available on Amazon). Based on her family’s real-life experience living in Brazil in the early 1970’s, the account of this bold adventure starts with her family on a flight piloted by Jack in their single engine Cessna from New York to South America. Once there, the promise of an entrepreneurial enterprise with an international businessman takes a dramatic turn. As Marilyn introduces the book, “If you had told me in 1972 that in less than two years I would be living in Brazil with my husband and four daughters, socializing with criminals, I would have called you crazy.” Marilyn’s daughter Diane wrote a screenplay based on the book, and she and Marilyn were continuing to look for a partner to take the story to the big screen.
Much of Marilyn’s life was committed to the service of others, starting as a tireless volunteer at Greenwich Hospital in CT and Portsmouth Hospital in NH, and as a Eucharistic Minister with Jack at the Immaculate Conception Church in Portsmouth. She also spent years volunteering with Share to help those in need.
There are some losses from which you can never recover, and for those who knew Marilyn, this is one of them. She leaves her adored brother, Don Geiter, and his wife Candy of Sunrise Beach, MO, and their children Ryan and Nicole. Survivors also include loving daughters Lynne Bucklin of Naples, FL (predeceased by her husband Stan), Evan Martin and husband Nicholas of New London, NH, Diane Kelley and husband David Risch, living aboard a boat in Florida, and Heather Kelley and husband Ted Buttner of Williston, FL. She leaves seven grandchildren, John Ivey and his wife Jaime of Calabasas, CA, Christopher Ivey and his wife Diama of San Diego, CA, Erin Martin and her husband Andrew Nichols of Norwood, MA, Peter Martin and his wife Rafaela of Wellesley, MA, Karina Tefft of Brooklyn, NY, Alexandra Tefft-Cassidy and husband Tim of Merrimack, NH, and Dillon Buttner of Williston, FL. Marilyn also leaves three step-grandchildren; Dr. Laura Risch, David C. Risch and Maxwell Risch and his wife Brittney.
The next generation of survivors includes six+ great-grandchildren; Hunter, Madeleine and Mila Ivey, Jack and Olivia Ivey, and Luella Nichols, with another Tefft-Cassidy due in September from Alexandra and Tim, as well as two step-great grandchildren Brady and Natalie Risch. Marilyn is also survived by her beloved friends and neighbors while living at The Pines at Hathaway Pond in Rochester, MA, and Aston Gardens at Pelican Marsh in Naples, FL.
Her Funeral will be held on Saturday, April 29th at 9 AM from the Saunders-Dwyer Mattapoisett Home for Funerals, 50 County Rd. (Rt. 6), Mattapoisett, followed by her Funeral Mass at St. Rita’s Church, 115 Front Street, Marion, MA at 10 AM. Burial will follow in Evergreen Cemetery. Reception to follow at the Beverly Yacht Club. For questions, contact daughter Diane Kelley, (603) 969-9054. For directions and guestbook, visit www.saundersdwyer.com.
