Moved by her two nephews serving overseas in the Marines, Meredith Kelly founded an organization in 2003 that eventually sent more than 10,000 packages to service members in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Kosovo, Guantanamo and the Horn of Africa.
“As soon as my first son was deployed, she was asking me for his address,” recalled her sister-in-law Sue Wiedemann, whose two sons served overseas with the Marines. “And it ended up that he received a package from her before he even got one from me.”
Mrs. Kelly, 61, the founder and chairwoman of Operation Stars and Stripes in Lyons, died of an aggressive form of ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, Tuesday, May 15, at her home in Lyons.
“For Meredith, it was all about the soldiers, never about her,” said Lyons Village Trustee Pattie Wisneski, whose idea it was to honor Mrs. Kelly by dedicating the Lyons vehicle stickers to Operation Stars and Stripes in 2010. “She was my hero.”
The retired neonatal nurse, whose father served on a B-17 bomber in World War II, grew up with a deep admiration for the military that carried through her entire life, loved ones said.
“She had such an appreciation for what our troops were going through,” Wiedemann said. “She had so much empathy.”
With the help of a few volunteers, Mrs. Kelly filled her military care packages with goods and supplies, from toothpaste to air conditioning units. She went door-to-door soliciting donations from individuals, churches, civic organizations and businesses.
“She’d knock on any door,” said her sister Lauren Cody. “She had a way of bringing out the best in people.”
Initially, Mrs. Kelly ran her organization out of warehouse space donated by General Motors in La Grange and later out of a recreation center in Lyons. In 2005, she moved the operation into her home in Lyons, where she ran it until 2010, when she was diagnosed with ALS.
“I can remember a time when there were so many boxes everywhere, you could barely walk through her home,” Cody said.
In 2005, Mrs. Kelly was given the “Heroes Home Front Award” by then-Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, and in 2009 she was the subject of a profile by Chicago broadcaster Harry Porterfield on his “People You Should Know” segment on WLS-Ch. 7.
“It would embarrass her whenever she was recognized for her work,” Wisneski said. “She never wanted the focus on her. Everything she did was in the name of Operation Stars and Stripes.”
Born Meredith Hay in Berwyn, Mrs. Kelly was raised in Riverside. She was a 1968 graduate of Riverside Brookfield High School, and later attended Triton College to become a licensed practical nurse.
Mrs. Kelly began her nursing career at Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Hospital in Chicago, before joining the pediatrics department at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where she helped set up the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit.
From 1981 to 1995, Mrs. Kelly served as the school nurse at Riverside Brookfield High School.
“The students all loved her,” said Cody, a former teacher at the school. “They’d call her ‘Mom.'”
Mrs. Kelly then joined the nursing staff at Hines VA Hospital near Maywood and later worked as a home health care nurse before retiring in her early 50s.
“Remembering Meredith, I’ll always think of what an amazing difference one person can make in the lives of so many,” Wisneski said.
Other survivors include her husband, John; her mother, Colleen Hay; a sister, Pamela Schmaling; a stepson, John Kelly III; a stepdaughter, Jenny Orosco; and six step-grandchildren.
Services have been held.
