In Memoriam: Patricia Windham Kelly

Born in Monroe, Louisiana, Pat Kelly was the third child of Ray and Allene Windham. In 1947, she moved with her family to Glendora, California, where she would live for a combined fifty-three years. She later moved to Mt. San Antonio Gardens in Claremont with Joe Kelly, her beloved husband and partner in life for thirty-four years. They made their home there for the last eleven years of Pat’s life.

Pat attended Glendora schools, including Citrus Union High School and Citrus College, before graduating from San Jose State University in 1962 with a bachelor’s degree in music. She began her teaching career at the United States Army base in Ramstein, Germany, and later taught in Toms River, New Jersey; Plano, Texas; the Rowland Unified School District; and the Glendora Unified School District. In Glendora, she taught fourth- and fifth-grade students at every elementary school in the district before concluding her career at Goddard Middle School. Over nearly four decades, Pat nurtured a love of music in more than 4,000 students before retiring in 2001.

Music remained at the center of Pat’s life until her death. While in college, she performed Verdi’s Requiem with the celebrated soprano Leontyne Price. Decades later, she joined more than 1,000 musicians in a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Los Angeles Master Chorale under the direction of Gustavo Dudamel. She also sang for more than ten years with both the Claremont Chorale and Mountainside Chorale.

Pat directed the children’s and handbell choirs at Glenkirk Church in Glendora and taught singing school each summer at Windham School until her retirement. After retiring from classroom teaching, she pursued a lifelong dream: learning to play the pipe organ. Like so many things Pat set her mind to, she soon mastered that, too.

Perhaps the most consequential musical moment of Pat’s life came in 1990, when she began singing in Canterbury Choir at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena. There, she met the love of her life, Joe, who proposed in 1991 during the first of their eight trips to the Haydn Music Festival in Eisenstadt, Austria. Joe remained faithfully by her side until her time on earth came to a close.

Pat was the devoted mother of Karin Berkley Velsey, Matthew Berkley, and Melissa Berkley Shepherd.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Ray and Allene Windham, and her siblings, William Windham, Betty Anne Nichols, and Van Windham.
Pat’s legacy lives on in her family, in the thousands of students she taught, and in every life made richer by her music, determination, humor, and love.

Pat’s memorial service and Eucharist will be held on Saturday, October 17, 2026, at All Saints Church, 132 N. Euclid Ave., Pasadena, California, 91101.

To send flowers or plant a memorial tree in memory, please visit our flower store.