Jacquelyn Marie Kelley - Jackie to her many friends - died at her home in Ardmore, Oklahoma at age 74 on Monday, December 19, 2022, in the loving company of her husband and her three sons.

Jackie was born on August 21, 1948, in Texarkana, Texas to Frank and Ruby McKinney, their second child after Jackie's older sister Sharon.

The family moved to Anchorage, Alaska in August 1960, just before Jackie's 12th birthday. Like her father Frank, she loved Anchorage and Alaska her entire life, and even after moving away nearly 30 years ago continued to visit regularly - Anchorage was her home, and it's where she raised her own family.

Jackie married Michael Kelley on November 7, 1967, and they raised their three sons in Anchorage. She lived for her family, and later in life she would say she got everything she ever wanted - a husband and children to love throughout her life. And indeed, she was the nucleus of her family, the gravitational pull of her love held her husband and three boys in a close orbit.

Though she was long a stay-at-home mom to her boys, Jackie's intellectual curiosity and sheer drive led her to a long career at the Sam Noble Foundation once Jackie and Mike moved to Ardmore in 1994. She used many of her skills at Noble, including excelling as a copy editor, but the most fulfilling role at work was as a friend to many of her coworkers.

Jackie was pure good: a doting mother and loyal friend, an optimist, unfailingly gracious in the face of adversity, with a humble dignity that dictated kindness and clean language whatever the situation. She was passionate about travel and experiencing far away wonders she'd only dreamed of as a child, and a lover of reading and books, which first allowed her to imagine these places she'd one day travel.

Jackie is survived by her husband of 55 years, Michael Kelley of Ardmore, OK; her son Rob Kelley and daughter-in-law Wendy Kelley of Whitefish, MT; her son Brendan Kelley and daughter-in-law Baylee Suskin of Wheat Ridge, CO; her son Devin Kelley and her daughter-in-law Lisa Kelley of Whitefish, MT; her granddaughter Tara Kelley of Richmond, VA; her grandsons Torin and Caden Kelley of Whitefish, MT; her step-grandchildren Farrah Berahmand and Jonah Suskin of Wheat Ridge, CO; her sister Sharon Thompson of Grand Prairie, TX.

She was predeceased by her parents, Frank McKinney in 2001 and Ruby McKinney in 2017.