Molly Scanlan Kelly, a mother of eight and a longtime anti-abortion and pro-chastity speaker and activist who was once invited to address the Vatican, died August 14 at age 87. She lived most of her life in Germantown and Mt. Airy.
“She passionately believed in the sanctity of life,” her seven living children wrote to the Local in an email, “and the work gave her direction in life and served as an homage to her late husband [Dr. James D. Kelly, a radiologist]. Molly demonstrated her commitment to these ideals by opening her home to pregnant teenagers and welcoming them as family. Her motherly compassion honed her pro-life ministry to a special focus on the promotion of the gift and virtue of chastity.”
Mary (“Molly”) Angelus Scanlan was born March 25, 1938. Her parents, Anthony and Lauralys Scanlan, opened a bank account in Molly’s name 15 days later, on April 9, with a $5 deposit at Beneficial Savings Fund Society of Philadelphia.
Last November, Kelly moved into Atria Senior Living, a retirement home and assisted living facility in Lafayette Hill. Naturally, when such a move is made from a large house into a much smaller apartment, decades of accumulated clothing, furniture, personal belongings, and memorabilia have to be culled.
Kelly’s son Brendan was helping sift through a mountain of material when he discovered the account opened by the Scanlans in a long-lost bankbook. “I could hear mom’s jaw drop on the phone when I told her,” Brendan told the Local in July, when Kelly was still a resident at Atria. “The book has not left the folder since then. It is in pristine condition, like new. It still has $5 in the account. It obviously has never been touched since 1938.”
The bankbook, Brendan said, was “the favorite thing I found. The second favorite was six whiskey glasses and three shot glasses; I split them with [his brothers] Michael and Patrick.”
Brendan and Kelly planned to visit the bank and “not withdraw the money but deposit five more dollars, because this is more hopeful,” Brendan said. “It would be great if they officially give her an account with $5 and 87 years worth of interest, but I think they can at least do something cute and recognize her with cupcakes or something nice like that.”
However, that plan was canceled when Kelly fell and broke her hip in April. She had the ball joint replaced at Chestnut Hill Hospital, where her two youngest children were born.
Tragedy and triumph
Kelly grew up at 5133 Morris St. across the street from the Germantown Cricket Club. “Germantown was a wonderful place to grow up in,” she said during the July interview. “There were five movie theaters in Germantown at the time. My mom and I would have lunch at the Sun Ray Drug Store. We really liked their egg salad sandwich. My mom and dad would also take us to Imhof’s in Germantown, and we loved Chestnut Hill restaurants.”
Kelly graduated from Norwood-Fontbonne Elementary School in in 1952 and Mount St. Joseph High School in 1956. She attended Trinity College in Washington, D.C., majoring in economics, graduating in 1960. She was employed for one year with the U.S. Treasury Department, working on annual reports.
“I got married April 8, 1961, at St. Francis of Assisi Church on Greene Street,” she said. “Mom took me to Rowell’s Department Store in Germantown to get a wedding gown and to Peck & Peck for a going-away outfit. We got shoes from Mr. Tilden at Allen’s in Germantown.”
Kelly and her husband James lived on 7845 Bayard St. in Cedarbrook, across the street from Temple University Stadium, from 1965 to 1970. “We loved it there,” she said. “We had the six boys and two girls and enjoyed all of it.”
The family then moved to 311 E. Roumfort Rd. in Mt. Airy. The Kellys lived on Roumfort Road for 30 years. “We had the grandest St. Patrick’s Day parties there every year,” she said. “We usually had between 90 and 100 people there, and we had a player piano.”
On Feb. 1, 1975, however, tragedy struck. James rented a sled at the Split Rock Lodge in the Poconos. As he was sledding, he hit an icy patch, skidded into a tree, and was killed. At the time their oldest child was 12, and the youngest was 14 months. Seven were students at Norwood-Fontbonne.
According to Kelly, “After Jim died, Sister James Anthony, head of the school, told me we would never have to pay a dime again for any of the children. That was wonderful.”
Kelly was predeceased by her husband, Dr. James D. Kelly, son James P. Kelly and granddaughter Maggie McDonnell. She is survived by her children, Michael Kelly (Jacqueline), of River Edge, NJ; Patrick Kelly (Mary Frances), of Maple Glen; Brendan Kelly (Angela), of New York City; Molly O’Donnell (Jeff), of Chalfont; Mary Kate Guerra (Juan), of Paoli; Kevin Kelly (Theanna), of Conshohocken; and Daniel Kelly (Beatrice), of Philadelphia; and 18 grandchildren. She is also survived by her brother, Edmund Scanlan (Ann), of Norristown; brother-in-law Michael Doyle, of Warrington; sister-in-law Tina Scanlan, of East Norriton, and many nephews and nieces.
Services were Aug 22 at St. Alphonsus Church in Maple Glen, followed by burial at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Cheltenham.
Len Lear can be reached at LenLear@chestnuthilllocal.com.
