Teacher’s legacy spans music, volunteering

Barbara Kelly, Right, leads the Plymouth Congregational Church hand bell choir in this file photo. Kelly, a longtime Lawrence City Band manager and founder of the bell ringing program at Plymouth, died Thursday.

Barbara Kelly’s legacy in Lawrence illustrates her lifelong commitment to helping others, according to her friends and colleagues.

Kelly is known for her years as a Lawrence elementary instrumental, strings and vocal music teacher.

She and her husband, Bill Kelly, were leaders in the Lawrence City Band. She was the longtime manager. Her husband died in 1998.

She also helped start the Plymouth Congregational Church hand bell choir, which has become nationally recognized.

And she volunteered often in Lawrence, including performing puppet shows to entertain residents at nursing homes.

“She was one of the most tenacious women, I think,” said Johannah Cox, a longtime band director at Central Junior High School. “When she set her mind to do something, she got it done. Whatever it took.”

Kelly, 82, died Thursday in Lawrence. A memorial service will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Plymouth Congregational Church, 925 Vt.

When Kelly helped start the bell ringing program at Plymouth in the 1970s, it became a mainstay in the church and in Lawrence.

Church members of all ages participate in choirs, and the Plymouth Ringers — a group of mostly high school students — is nationally recognized and has toured the world to perform.

The Rev. Peter Luckey, Plymouth’s senior pastor, said Kelly was crucial to the congregation in the 1990s when the church went through a leadership change.

“She found a way as a volunteer to bring tons of young people through making music into the life of the church,” Luckey said.

She also helped take the lead with the bell choir, and Cox said she has passed the leadership torch on to her son, Bill, who teaches science at South Junior High School.

“She was just one of those people who grabbed on to a passion and a cause and just went with it,” said Cox, who is also a Plymouth member.

Luckey said Kelly also was indefatigable as she advocated for her causes. When she was ill and had to be hospitalized, she would make calls to organize choir practices and activities from her hospital bed, he said.

“The payoff for that work is making a difference in a whole bunch of people’s lives,” Luckey said. “And that’s what Barbara Kelly’s legacy will be.”

Family members will greet friends from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Sunday at Warren-McElwain Mortuary, 120 W. 13th St. The family suggests memorials to the Douglas County Community Foundation.