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Delta Kelly Elementary School was over-flowing with students, parents and community members who attended a special dedication ceremony Sunday, October 6. The thirteenth elementary school built in the northwest quadrant of the sixty six square mile area that makes up Rochester Community Schools opened August 27 to serve 463 students. Named after Oakland Township historian, Delta Kelly, the school is the first school to be named after a woman. Several members of Delta Kelly’s family attended the dedication including her five children, brother and sister. “Having a school named after our mother is a tremendous honor,” said Jo Ann Bourez, Kelly’s eldest child. “It is a wonderful opportunity for parents and staff to work with children to develop an appreciation of the past and develop a vision for the future,” added Bourez.
Susan Wood, granddaughter of Delta Kelly, teacher in the District and Rochester High School cheerleading coach worked with students to teach them a Delta Kelly cheer. Students performed the cheer and sang the new school song written by physical education teacher, Mary Ellen Belote. “The cheer and the song will both become traditions for the new elementary school,” Marsha Andres, principal of Delta Kelly shared at the dedication program. |
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| Delta Kelly lived on Gunn
Road in Rochester , Michigan and spent almost 40 years teaching in and
around Oakland County. For fourteen years of her career she served as an
educator at Baldwin Elementary School. She helped form the Baldwin School
Environmental Student Council in 1972 to teach children to be partners
with the land. The nature center area that developed from this program is
still in use today at Baldwin School. Mrs. Kelly had a real love for birds
and was a member of the Audubon Society. Her many other civic
contributions included being a co-founder of the Oakland Township
Historical Society, co-chairing the Bicentennial Steering Committee, and
contributing a weekly historical column for the
Rochester Observer and Eccentric. She also spent several years mapping all
of the wetland areas around Paint Creek, which helped in the establishment
of the current township wetlands ordinance. In addition, Mrs. Kelly taught
Sunday school at Paint Creek United Methodist Church, served as a Girl
Scout leader, and was a Natural Beauty Roads petitioner. In her "spare Time" she taught
chair caning and basket weaving classes for Rochester Community Schools
enrichment program. After retiring, Delta Kelly continued to educate third
graders with tours of historic Goodison Village each spring. Her love of
the natural world, her fascination with local history, and her skill as a
writer and author could not provide a more fitting foundation on which to
build a new school community. Delta Kelly Elementary School serves as a
magnificent tribute to a woman who was an incredibly vibrant, energetic,
and dedicated citizen of Oakland Township and the Greater Rochester
community. By Marsha Andres, principle, Delta Kelly Elementary School. |
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The Sesquicentennial history
of Michigan came to life when you talked to Delta Kelly about Rochester
area farm settlers, the early mills, water routes, schools, railroads
and churches.
Our Honored Senior was born
in Owosso, Michigan in 1911. her father, Enos Hutchinson, was the local
florist and Delta began working in the family greenhouse when she was
very young. She showed an early interest in writing and talking about
history; and, when a freshman in high school, she won statewide honors
in a National Meat Story contest for her essay about the history of
food. Delta received a certificate and $16.00 in prize money which sent
her to the "Y" camp that summer of 1927.
"I think I'm an archeologist
at heart because I like to 'dig up' the past", said Delta. A high school
graduate during the depression in1930, she received a $150.00
scholarship from the Owosso Women's Club, which helped financially in
her first year at Central State Teachers College in Mt. Pleasant. For
three years she worked in a doctor's home to pay her way, then borrowed
money from the Methodist Student's Fund to finish the last year living
in the dormitory. During the college years, she met Wendell Kelly, who
was to graduate at the same time. The day before graduation, they were
married in the Methodist parsonage.
Education became a career
that endured for over 39 years. "My first year of teaching was in a
Mennonite community in Fairview, Michigan, where I taught Latin, Home
Economics and directed the Senior play", Delta recalled. In order to
provide credits for the hot lunch program, the children brought
vegetables from their home gardens and canned them in class along with
cold packing venison meat the Conservation officers brought in. This
meat, combined with the vegetables, made nourishing stews.
Wendell accepted a job
teaching history in the Rochester School System in 1935 and they moved
to a home on Castell Street where the first of their five children was
born. Delta's teaching career was interrupted intermittently with family
involvements: but, she managed to substitute whenever needed. After the
birth of their third child, they moved to a farm on Gunn Road in
Goodison. While raising a family, teaching school and serving the
community, Delta also made time to become vitally interested in local
history. Today she recognized as one of the most astute scholars of
Rochester area history.
During the 1976 U>S>
Bicentennial year, she wrote many articles for the Rochester Eccentric
and Clarion newspapers. She wrote interesting articles about our
pioneers - about the rivers and creeks that provided power for the mills
and the railroads that came through in 1872. She told of early places
like the Decker's Settlement; about churches, schools and people. Many
of the history discussions took place while she taught evening classes
in chair seat weaving and basket weaving.
During the Bicentennial
year, she not only served on the Commission representing Oakland
Township, she proudly served as President of the Rochester Women's Club,
which recently celebrated its 90th anniversary. In 1983, Delta Kelly was
honored by Oakland Township, where she had been chairperson of the
Township Historical Districts Commission for years, and also for
co-founding the Township Historical Society, where she served as the
first president. Delta helped develop the Historic Districts Ordinance,
adopted in 1979. She spearheaded activity to move and restore the
Goodison House, which was tragically destroyed by fire, and she
co-edited the outstanding Oakland Township Heritage book.
In addition to all of her
community accomplishments, Delta taught third grade on a regular basis
at Baldwin school until her retirement in 1973. At Baldwin, she was
active in many projects - she helped start the outdoor nature studies;
she was a Girl Scout leader; was a choir member and taught Sunday School
at the Paint Creek Methodist Church. Delta said, "We receive strength
from history. Our pioneer ancestors fashioned out a way of life in
coming to the Michigan Territory; and, with just a few basic tools,
cleared the land for crops and built mills along the Clinton waterways."
Delta Kelly made a
significant contribution to all of us. Her dedication to preserve the
history surrounding this area will always be a tribute to her.
by Merritt Romine
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