Barbara Kelley
Barbara Kelley passed peacefully on November 4, 2021, in Lake Oswego, Oregon, at the age of 94 years, with her loving daughter Kathy Kelley by her side.
She was Exceptional. A beaming ray of light that gave joy, kindness, and purpose to so many throughout her life. Born to Dr. Albert Crane and Louise Crane in 1927 in Staten Island, New York, she was the youngest of four children, Mildred, Georgia, and Harvey. Her love of classical music led her to the violin and college at Barnard. She married our Father, Chuck Kelley, a Scientist, and moved to Los Angeles. As a mother, she gave my sister and me (Tim) the love, admiration, and conviction to carve lives of meaning and joy that truly were distilled from her.
Restless, courageous, and with a deep calling from mother nature, she dragged us all to the Oregon wilderness to start a new life, where my mother became a true pioneer in environmental activism. She founded the non-profit organization Save Our Ecosystem (SOS), which in 1983 took a case to the 9th Circuit Court that resulted in the banning of herbicide spraying on all Federal Lands. She started the first photocopy shop that used only recyclable paper, and she made me use my lunch paper bag for a minimum of two weeks, to the point where it smelt and felt like leather.
Mostly, Barbara Kelley was as pure and beautiful as anyone that has ever graced this world. A lover of dogs, nature, and most pople, she touched us all with her irreverent and child-like charm.
She leaves us her daughter Kathy (Aron Faegre) and son Tim (Lian Desmarais); her three grandchildren, Sarah, Brendan, and Maisie; and four great-grandchildren, Tor, Sol, Aron, and Tobias. She was cherished and revered by her friends and colleagues and challenged by those that disrespected the earth. Relentless, noble, funny, and coy, she was my mom, the best of what I'll ever be.
