Kelly Ivy, Sr. died in his sleep in the early hours of Wednesday, May 9. He was 63 and spent 45 of his too-short years married to his wife Linda. He leaves Linda and their children, Kelly P. Ivy Jr. (Megan), Jamie Apgar Howarth (Robert), Amanda Williams (Daniel) and Emily Cole (Christopher), and a niece Jennifer who lost her father when she was a teenager. The father was Kelly’s brother, and Kelly and Linda took Jennifer in and treated her as the fifth child. Kelly also leaves behind his sisters Mary Caserta and Sue Kinion-Ivy, his brother Danny Ivy and many grandchildren, nieces, nephews and extended family.
Kelly was born in San Angelo, Texas. His father died when Kelly was only 6. His mother later remarried a military man and his stepfather moved the family first to Greece and subsequently to Greenbelt when Kelly was a teenager. He met Linda at Greenbelt Junior High School and they were wed when they turned 18 in 1973. Kelly worked for Amtrak as an electrician for over 40 years before retiring in 2015.
At Kelly’s funeral at St. Hugh’s on Monday, May 14, Father Tappe noted that Kelly was a deeply religious man who was so humble he stood in the back of the church “perhaps because he felt he wasn’t worthy to sit closer to the altar.” Kelly kept crucifixes in his pocket and would give them to any who wanted one. Father Tappe noted he knew Kelly for more than 25 years and that “if you met him once, you knew him,” because he was so open and unchanging. He had the same presence and manner to each one he met with that constant smile he wore and gave to all.
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