[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 6 (Wednesday, February 4, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E97]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             TRIBUTE AND MEMORY OF THE HONORABLE EDNA KELLY

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CONSTANCE A. MORELLA

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 4, 1998

  Mrs. MORELLA. Mr. Speaker, on December 14, 1997, Edna F. Kelly passed 
away at the age of 91. Mrs. Kelly served as a Member of Congress for 
twenty years, from 1949 to 1969.
  I did not know Congresswoman Kelly personally, but I did know her 
through her daughter, Maura Patricia (Pat) Kelly who works in the 
Clerk's office on the Daily Digest, and Jean Gilligan, a longtime 
friend of the Kelly family and a Hill retire after 45 years of service.
  Edna Kelly was the fifth daughter of Patrick J. Flannery, an Irish 
immigrant, and his wife, Mary Ellen Flannery. Mrs. Kelly, after 
graduation from Hunter College in 1928, married Edward L. Kelly, an 
attorney who was active in Brooklyn Democratic politics and later 
became a judge on the New York City Court.
  Mrs. Kelly was one of the those pioneers who paved the way for more 
representation by women on the local and federal level. Her active 
political career began when her spouse met an untimely death in 1942. 
She was active in the Women's Auxiliary of Brooklyn's Madison 
Democratic Club. She then joined the county executive committee and 
became research director for the Democrats in the State Legislature. In 
1949, she was elected to fill the unexpired term of deceased 
Representative Andrew L. Somers' vacant seat in the 81st Congress and 
was reelected by her constituents nine times. Her constituents 
affectionately called her ``Kelly.''
  Mrs. Kelly became known as an expert in Soviet issues and became the 
third-ranking member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. During the 
cold war she headed several fact-finding missions to Berlin, Hungary, 
Czechoslovakia, Greece and Turkey. Her intensive studies and reports 
raised our country's awareness of the threat of international Communism 
and the importance of NATO. She firmly opposed Communist expansion. As 
chair of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, she advanced the 
advantages of rebuilding a strong Europe. In 1963, President Kennedy 
appointed Mrs. Kelly as a member of the U.S. delegation to the United 
Nations. She was instrumental in creating the Arms Control and 
Disarmament Agency and she served as co-chair of the first United 
States-Canada Interparliamentary Conference.
  Mrs. Kelly is known for her sponsorship of legislation creating the 
Peace Corps.
  Mrs. Kelly's interests went beyond the international scene. She was a 
sensitive yet outspoken champion of those who were opposed. She 
sponsored legislation to improve the economic status of American 
families and refugees of World War II. Her bill, the Mutual Security 
Act, helped to find homes for more than 1.5 million people dislocated 
from the Soviet Union and Europe. She also supported the civil rights 
legislation, the newly formed State of Israel, and pleaded for Irish 
unity. She denounced political and religious persecution as an 
indignation to humanity. She stood for peace and understanding among 
all people.
  As the only Congresswoman in the New York delegation at that time, 
Mrs. Kelly was at the center of a group of bipartisan women legislators 
who focused their attention on the economic problems of women in their 
roles as homemakers, widows, and employees. The work, tenacity, and 
joint efforts of these Members of Congress resulted in legislation to 
correct discrimination in laws denying women employment, credit, 
housing, pensions and educaitonal opportunity. Passage of her bill in 
1951 established the principle of ``equal pay for equal work'' and 
launched a new era in the struggle for women's equality.
  Edna Kelly was pivotal to the progress made by women in our country 
today. She will be remembered by those who knew her as a person of 
strong character, sharp intellect and gracious Irish charm. For those 
who did not have the privilege of knowing her personally, she is, in 
the words of her daughter, Pat, ``* * *  a great person to emulate.''

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