Charlene Anne Kelly
February 26, 1943 – December 31, 2020
My mother is now with the angels.
My mom passed away this morning in Westlake, Ohio after her long battle with dementia. I don’t have the words yet, maybe in time I will.
I wanted to share of her passing with you all. Many of you have expressed how you felt apart of the journey with her and with my family and I as we shared stories, photos and videos with her in the nurisng home and hospice. In the first video I took with my mom when she went into the hospital, she was smiling and laughing and dancing…showing off her famous shimmy move, and I asked her if there was anything she wanted to say to everyone and she said, “tell them I love them, I love them all!” That is how she lived her last few years.
Dementia robbed my mother of her memories. Dementia took her ability to care for herself, her ability to walk, her ability to eat, and eventially Dementia took all of her physical and mental abilities. But dementia never took her loving spirit. She would not let dementia touch that.
My mom spent the last few years of her life telling anyone that came near her that she loved them. Her husband, her children, her grandchildren, the nurses who cared for her, the aids who helped feed her, the cook named “Manny” who always came by to see how she liked the food, the young aids and volunteers, and everyone else that came around her. She let everyone know that they were loved. She would usually reach her hand out to touch theirs, look them in the eyes and tell them she loved them. Day after day, hundreds of “I love you’s” shared. When dementia stripped my mom of everything, she still found a way to share love with the world.
To share support for my family and I, and to celebrate my mother, I’d ask you share in her loving spirit and make sure those around you right now know that they are loved. And, maybe put on your favorite song and dance to it and do my moms famous shoulder shimmy; she’ll be dancing and shimmying up in Heaven and will be shinining love down upon us.
My mom would always said to us, “I love you and I am always with you.” We love you mom, and you will always be with us in our hearts.
Here is her official obituary: https://www.sunsetfuneralandcemetery.com/obituaries/Charlene-Kelly-3/
Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Pizza 