Sandra Lee Worley Kelly, banking officer who married rower John B. Kelly Jr., dies at 72
Mrs. Kelly had been married almost four years when her husband collapsed and died of a heart attack on a Center City street.
Sandra Lee Worley Kelly, 72, of Philadelphia, a former Wilmington banking officer who married into Philadelphia’s iconic Kelly family, died Thursday, May 7, of coronary artery disease at her home in Center City.
She was the wife of John B. Kelly Jr., the four-time Olympian in rowing and former Philadelphia City Council member who inherited his family’s brick business. He could be seen rowing on the Schuylkill most mornings.
They met in 1978 at a WHYY fundraiser and dated before marrying in 1981. They had been married for almost four years when he collapsed and died of a heart attack while running in Center City. Kelly, for whom East River Drive was renamed after his death, was 57.
Born in Chicago, Mrs. Kelly was the daughter of Russell Edwin and Laura Kristine Worley. Her father was a chief warrant officer in the Army, and the family moved often while she was growing up.
She became a specialist in banking and human resources management. She worked as a human resources, salary, and benefits officer at Wilmington Savings Fund Society in Delaware, and later worked at the Liberty Museum in Old City and as an administrative assistant in the health-insurance business of onetime mayoral candidate Tom Knox.
Mrs. Kelly volunteered on the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and served on its international advisory board and as an Olympic protocol adviser. Her husband had been elected president of the committee a month before his death, fulfilling a lifelong dream, and they shared an interest in furthering the success of the Olympic movement.
Mrs. Kelly was a quiet, dignified, private person who stayed out of the limelight after her husband’s death, her family said.
When they married on May 28, 1981, there had been a rush of publicity because the groom’s sister, Princess Grace of Monaco, attended. Her husband, Prince Rainier, and two of their three children, Princess Caroline and Prince Albert, were also there, as were the leading lights of Philadelphia society.
Kelly, known as “Kell” to family, was 54 at the time of the wedding, his bride 34. “There’s not that much of an age difference,” she told the Wilmington News Journal when the engagement was announced in April 1981.
It was his second marriage and her first. The event at the Wharton Sinkler Estate in Wyndmoor included a formal evening ceremony.
In her husband’s absence, she continued to act as an unofficial go-between in matters involving the city and the Olympics. “She had a passion for the city of Philadelphia,” said her family in a statement. “She was very fond of the city and considered herself a promoter and ambassador for the city, but not in any official capacity.”
She devoted herself to volunteer fundraising for Philadelphia cultural institutions and served on the boards of the Curtis Institute of Music, the Philadelphia Sports Congress, the USO, the American Society for Personnel Administration, and the National Association of Bank Women.
“She loved the work,” her family said.
She is survived by her stepmother, Anne Worley, and stepchildren John B. Kelly III, Ann Ogle, Susan von Medicus, and Margaret Kelly.
Burial will be private. A memorial service will be held after the pandemic has ebbed.
Donations may be made to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Foundation, which supports the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Team USA. Checks should be payable to USOPC, 1 Olympic Plaza, Colorado Springs, Colo. 80909, or via support.teamusa.org.