Original resident of Levittown found her calling in real estate

When Louise and Tom Kelly settled down to start a family in the early 1950s — along with much of the postwar generation — they joined the droves headed for a rapidly developing patch of land 25 miles northeast of Philadelphia.

The Kellys, along with their four daughters, were among the original families to stake a claim in Levittown, a painstakingly planned community of modest single-family homes with manicured lawns. They wound up on Jolly Lane in the Junewood section of Levittown, one of the first true suburbs in the country and known for its curved roads containing similar houses.

“You could just look out your back door, there were kids everywhere, which is what my parents wanted,” said Mary Jo Lackey, one of their daughters. “That was where you wanted to be.”

Ms. Kelly both absorbed and bucked the suburban sameness that came with living in Levittown.

Although she embraced being part of a development that contained everything, Ms. Kelly was fiercely independent and a tireless volunteer despite being surrounded by an American culture that relegated women to the home. She spent the last six years of her career working as a Realtor in Wexford, selling homes until retiring in the late 1990s.

Ann Louise Kelly, who was called Louise died Oct. 14 at the St. John XXIII Home in Hermitage at the age of 82.

She was born and raised in Bristol, Bucks County, and was married by age 18.

After moving to Levittown, she took a variety of secretary jobs while her husband worked for 3M Cos., which manufactured adhesive tape. While Mr. Kelly rose through the ranks, starting as a laborer and retiring as an industrial engineer in 1989, Ms. Kelly took her work just as seriously as her family.

Without formal education or training in any particular career, she worked as director of volunteers at Delaware Valley Medical Center, where she helped boost volunteerism fourfold, according to her family. For several years, she was a saleswoman for Sears, selling warranties for appliances and rising above her colleagues.

Each summer, she quit her warranty sales to be with her daughters during their vacations from school, Ms. Lackey said, telling her boss, “The girls are home for the summer — I can’t be a working mom.” Each fall, Ms. Lackey added with a laugh, her boss would call and ask her to return.

It wasn’t until she was in her 40s that she decided to venture into real estate, at the encouragement of friends who knew the business and saw her knack for sales.

“She was a driven woman,” Ms. Lackey said. “As a Realtor, she took off.”

After selling homes for years for ReMax, largely in the Bucks County area, she moved with her husband to Wexford in 1992 to be closer to her grandchildren. She continued to sell homes, but the onset of Parkinson’s disease began to wear her down, Ms. Lackey said. The shaking grew so debilitating that she struggled to get a fork to her mouth.

Still, her adventurous, positive spark remained.

At age 72, she volunteered for a procedure called deep brain stimulation that uses electrical stimulation to eliminate the shaking and physical symptoms of Parkinson’s. The procedure was developed by renowned Pine neurosurgeon Donald Whiting. A doctor drilled into the sides of her head and inserted electrodes and generators, Ms. Lackey said.

Ms. Kelly is survived by her four daughters: Ms. Lackey of Hermitage; Janet Magner of State College; Carolyn Conversa of Elmhurst, Ill.; and Barbara Jean Pistella of Libertyville, Ill.

The funeral Mass was Friday at the Roncalli Center of St. John XXIII Home.

The family suggests memorial contributions be made in Ms. Kelly’s memory to St. John XXIII Home Memorial Fund, 2250 Shenango Valley Freeway, Hermitage, PA 16148.