Elizabeth Ann "Betsy" Kelley

The morning of March 30, 2024, Waffle House lost a loyal customer, Elizabeth (Betsy) Ann (Hood) Kelley and heaven gained another angel. You see Betsy received a call, an offer really, that one can’t refuse, for an appointment that she will not be returning from. The new position comes with a fantastic signing bonus, the offer of perfect weather, no more pain and issues from cancer, lots of time to relax and read, and the promise of reunions with family, friends, and her beloved St. Bernard and Fox Terrier, all of whom she greatly missed especially the St. Bernard. Betsy is survived by her husband of 49 years, Rick Kelley, and a whole bunch of other family members including her favorite and, well, only child, Jeremy, and his wife, Katelyn, and their daughter, Avery. Betsy is also survived by her brother, Travis, and their sister, Shirley, and their respective families. Shirley was at Betsy’s side to the very end and for that we are all thankful. Betsy grew up in Fern Creek, KY where she unfortunately learned how to talk. Her southern accent was on point and the family from “up north” never missed an opportunity to tease her about it. Betsy was a cheerleader, a track star, a great student, and someone her classmates agreed would move on to even bigger and better things which is why they were all shocked that she started dating Rick. Betsy’s dad, Leonard, had a particular dislike of Rick especially after he left a trail of grease across their new family room carpet the first day Betsy brought him home to meet her parents. Good news about that is things could only get better from that point and boy did they. Betsy and Rick fell in love and maintained that love throughout an almost 50-year marriage. Even Leonard, Betsy’s dad, eventually came around after Rick cleaned the carpet and started taking his shoes off every time he stopped by to visit Betsy. Betsy started her career as a secretary (that’s what they were called back then) without a college degree. She worked hard, paid attention and gained lots of experience, mastered shorthand, and finally decided that being a secretary wasn’t for her. So, she went to night school (Franklin University) while working full time all the while raising two boys…her son and her husband. Betsy finally graduated with a degree in Human Resource Management and managed to have a meteoric rise through several large banking-type corporations finally retiring as a Vice President or “bigwig” as she was called in the biz. Shortly after retiring Betsy realized quickly that she wasn’t quite ready to be retired, so she went back to work for an additional 7 years for another large corporation. This time at a large insurance company but still in Human Resources. Betsy finally retired in 2017 and spent her remaining years helping Rick and Jeremy manage their somewhat large construction company all the while probably plotting a hostile takeover, traveling the United States in their RV, being a big part of her granddaughter’s life, and never missing a single family event. In fact, Betsy took on the difficult and sometimes frustrating task of being the ballast for our otherwise unstable family. An obituary for Betsy would not be complete without mentioning two of her almost lifelong friends, Barb Davis (husband Don) and Glenda Wagner (husband Gary). On paper Betsy and Barb were the odd couple but somehow their friendship worked mostly because they both had the same stride and running pace. Betsy and Barb ran multiple marathons together over their 40-ish year friendship and ended up being unbelievably close. Betsy and Glenda were close friends for roughly 63 years and Glenda was there for pretty much every big event in Betsy’s life including traveling to the New York City marathon with Betsy’s sister, Shirley, to cheer her on. Shirley and Glenda played a big role in Betsy finishing the race and she drew so much strength from them both not only in New York but generally in life. Speaking of running, Betsy was a lifelong runner even when she wasn’t being chased by something scary and generally was a great lover of exercising. Betsy ran in countless marathons (we’re guessing over 15) including the New York City marathon, countless biathlons (she really hated swimming), and generally could always be found doing something daily to keep her in tip top shape and therefore making the rest of us feel bad about our life choices. Visitation will be held at Rutherford Funeral Home at Powell in Powell, OH on Wednesday April 3, 2024 from 4-8 PM. Her service will be a graveside affair at Chenoweth Run Cemetery (6620 Calm River Way) in Louisville, KY on Thursday April 4, 2024 at 1 PM. The graveside service will be led by Pastor Chris Atwood of Liberty Presbyterian Church of Delaware Ohio. A celebration of life will occur later (likely in May) also at Liberty Presbyterian Church. Anyone wearing black will not be admitted to the visitation, graveside service, or the celebration of life (joking, just joking) as Betsy is not gone but very much alive in all our hearts. Any gifts should be made in her honor either to Upper Arlington Crew (www.uacrew.org), to Nationwide Children’s Hospital (https://www.nationwidechildrens.org/giving), or to Liberty Presbyterian Church (www.libertybarnchurch.com).

Elizabeth Ann "Betsy" Kelley

January 8, 1955 - March 30, 2024