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IN LOVING MEMORY OF

Mary Frances

Mary Frances Kell Profile Photo

Kell

January 22, 1932 – March 25, 2017

Obituary

Mary Frances Quesenberry Kell, Hillsville, VA – Mary Frances Kell, age 85, passed away at

The Stewart Health Center, Springmoor Life Care Retirement Community, Raleigh, NC, on March 25, 2017. She was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, sister, and friend. She was born on January 22, 1932, in McVeigh, Kentucky, to Meef and Opal Lewis Quesenberry. She was preceded in death by her parents, her older sister, Dolores Q. Parks, and two younger brothers, Nelson and Dennis Quesenberry.
When she was very young, the family moved to the High Rock Mill area, where she attended the elementary school in Patterson and then the newly built school in Sylvatus. She graduated from Radford College, then a teachers' college and the Women's Division of Virginia Tech, with majors in math and social studies and a minor in English.
After college, Mary Frances worked at Langley Field in Hampton, VA, for NACA (now NASA). Her work was with a group of women who used mechanical calculator machines that did addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Engineers broke down mathematical expressions to calculation forms that the women used for their calculations. (These women did the work that computers now do in a small fraction of the time that the women needed.) Mary Frances' future husband, Robert (Bob) Kell, also worked at NACA, where they met. They eventually married in 1955 in the old Methodist Church on Main Street in Hillsville, VA.
Bob had just gone to work for Honeywell in Minneapolis, MN, so he and Mary Frances packed up and headed for the north country where Bob continued to work until his retirement, 32 years later.
Mary Frances and Bob had three children, a boy, a girl, and a boy, all of whom graduated from high school and went on to continue their education and careers of their own. When the children were small, the family was active in Hamlin Methodist Church in St. Paul, MN.
After a time, Mary Frances became interested in and participated in local politics and activities of the League of Women Voters. A friend of hers introduced her to genealogy and the Daughters of the American Revolution, both of which led her to become a member of a DAR chapter in St. Paul where she was a very active for many years.
When her husband retired, they very quickly moved to Carroll County, which Mary Frances now recognized as her "home county" through her genealogy pursuits. It didn't take long for her to become a very active member of the DAR Hillsville Appalachian Trails Chapter. She used her interest and now expert research capability to help many DAR chapter members prove their lineage over the years and to expand her own number of patriotic ancestors.
Mary Frances always had an interest in history, which is an inherent part of genealogy. This provided an expansion of the research to investigate the history of the High Rock area of Wythe County. However, she never agreed to publish it because, "I still need to add …'.
Mary Frances is survived by her husband, Robert John Kell; her three children, John Preston Kell and his wife Nancy of Indianapolis, IN; Leslie Ann and her husband Paul Reiff and their twins, Adam and Alyssa, of Raleigh, NC; Scott Patrick Kell and his wife Jennifer and their two daughters, Laura and Johanna, of Cary, NC; one sister, Janice Q. Surratt and husband Cleo of Mt. Airy, NC; sister-in-law Betty J. Quesenberry also of Mt. Airy, NC; seven nieces and nephews, several great nieces and great nephews; and many cousins.
Visitation will be held from 1 to 2 p.m. at Fairview Presbyterian Church on Thursday, March 30. The church service, conducted by Rev. Ben Behrendt of Fairview Presbyterian Church and Rev. Peter Smith, will be held at 2 p.m. Immediately following the service, the burial will be conducted in the M.O. Quesenberry Cemetery in Sylvatus.
Flowers are appreciated. However, donations may be made to Fairview Presbyterian Church. Vaughan-Guynn-McGrady Chapel is serving the family.
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Mary Frances Kell, please visit our flower store.

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