Mary Lenore "Lee" Kelly, an audacious reporter who turned her former role as society columnist for the American-Statesman into a position of civic influence, died Thursday at Brookdale-Westlake Hills. She was 77.
"Austin's grand dame of 'society journalism' has passed away," former Statesman reporter Kim Tyson Cook posted Friday on Facebook. "Just two weeks earlier, Lee had marked the 24th anniversary of her first lung transplant. Lee was believed to be the longest living recipient from the San Antonio transplant center. She twice received the gift of a lung, receiving another in 2015."
"That was the end of her life," Cook continued, "but she'd be sorely upset to not remind everyone how she lived."
Born in 1947, Kelly grew up in Baltimore, the only daughter of a Pontiac car dealer executive and stay-at-home mother. The family included three brothers. She took care of her horse Dandy and participated in local horse shows. Early on, she composed a newspaper about her neighborhood, and she later wrote articles for the Baltimore News-American while still in high school.
A lifelong Catholic, Kelly attended Maryvale, a Catholic girls' school to which she donated throughout her life. She attended Notre Dame College (now Notre Dame of Maryland University) in Baltimore before landing her first full-time newspaper job at the St. Petersburg Times in Florida, where she earned praise as a faith reporter, including a national award for religion writers.
Kelly signed onto the American-Statesman in 1977 not long after it was purchased by Cox Enterprises, which aimed to turn it into a serious major metro newspaper. She reported on religion and the University of Texas before becoming a columnist who covered Austin's wealthy and influential, at a time when a much smaller group of leaders ran the city.
"Despite her own relatively quiet social life, she attended the parties and charity fundraisers of city, state and national leaders," Cook posted. "She came to personally know luminaries such as Lady Bird Johnson and former Austin Mayor Roy Butler, attending events both in their homes and at charity fundraisers. She covered Queen Elizabeth's trip to Austin."
"Lee was a dogged reporter who loved to get tips and chase the story," posted former Statesman editor Ed Crowell. "She would never give up and found many ways to get news about influential Austinites into the paper. It was fun to watch her work the phone and make the rounds at social events, asking everyone for leads that could give her the 'scoops' she cherished."
A heavy smoker while a reporter, Kelly took a leave of absence from the newspaper in the mid-1990s when she learned that she needed a lung transplant to survive. She never returned to the newsroom, even though she always intended to return to journalism.
"Philanthropist Dick Rathgeber regularly cooked Lee a big ham for her birthday or holidays," Cook posted. "Austin Symphony doyenne Jane Sibley attended her small birthday parties at Chez Zee long after she'd left the newspaper. Lee's book club members included the likes of early Austin high tech guru Bobby Inman and priests at St. Theresa's Catholic Church, which she once attended."
Kelly also read the daily newspaper carefully. She was not shy about calling a reporter to explain what was wrong in a published story.
"Lee was truly a leader of Texas women journalists when I first started at the Statesman," posted former Statesman editor Melissa Segrest. "She was kind and caring and a dogged reporter. Her health challenges serve as an inspiration to never give up!"
Central to her later life were her dachshunds - Silky, Zorro, Maybelle, Oscar and Rosie - whom she cheered on during the early days of the Buda Buda Wiener Dog Races. Friends reached out to Kelly as her health worsened. Former Statesman journalist Mary Ann Roser took her shopping and to buy glasses. Her friend Michael Merrick drove her to San Antonio for her transplant checkups.
Kelly wanted people to consider donating to Central Texas Dachshund Rescue in her memory, as well as to her beloved schools, Maryvale and Notre Dame in Baltimore.
The family plans to hold a memorial service in Baltimore, where she will be buried in the family plot. Plans for any memorial event in Austin are pending.
"My first out-of-newsroom adventure in Austin, after moving here from D.C., was with Lee," posted former Statesman journalist Diane Holloway. "She insisted that she take me to the tawdry but historic Alamo Hotel for a drink - and to see how many VIPs she could point out. She was truly legendary, in a down-to-earth kind of way.
"Ride on, girlfriend!"