Mary Jane Shelly, award-winning writer, editor, and community activist, has died at 94
She covered education, politics, and local events, and was an associate editor at the Chestnut Hill Local for 26 years.
Mary Jane Shelly, 94, formerly of Philadelphia, retired award-winning writer, reporter, and associate editor for the Chestnut Hill Local, former freelance news correspondent for the Philadelphia Bulletin, longtime community activist, and volunteer, died Monday, Feb. 3, of age-associated decline at the Rockhill Mennonite Community in Sellersville.
Mrs. Shelly spent 26 years, from 1971 to her retirement in 1997, as a writer, reporter, and associate editor at the Chestnut Hill Local. She covered local events, wrote award-winning commentary about education, politics, and other topics, and helped protect the newspaper’s editorial independence and financial stability in the 1970s, ‘80s, and ‘90s.
She penned editorials about racism and world hunger, and was not shy about confronting powerful people over important issues. She tangled more than once with former Mayor Frank Rizzo and other prominent Chestnut Hill residents when they sought to influence the paper’s policies.
“She challenged people all the time,” said her son Peter. “She liked to mix it up.”
Former colleagues at the Local noted her “dogged abilities as a journalist” in a Facebook tribute and called her an expert on all things Chestnut Hill. In 1997, the Chestnut Hill Community Association gave her its Chestnut Hill Award for her “objective and unfailing sense of reason and understanding.”
She also had a light touch. In 1988, she ended an interview with a hardware store owner who also knitted and raised lambs for their wool by saying: “On display, just above the sales counter, are hats and scarves that truly are made from scratch.”
Her writing was also recognized by the Chestnut Hill Historical Society and what is now the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association. In 1982, her articles on Philadelphia schools earned first prize for the best print editorials from the local chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Earlier, in the 1960s, she covered local municipal meetings as a freelance writer for the Bulletin. Typically, her children said in a tribute, she would leave home after dinner to attend a meeting, return a few hours later, and dictate her story over the phone to the night desk.
At the Local, she worked long hours on Tuesdays as the paper went to press. Since she lived just a few blocks from the office, she could be there fast if news broke.
Her husband, Tom, died in 1980 when Mrs. Shelly was 49, so she supported the family and reared 10 children as a single mother. “She never faltered,” her children said. “She buried her husband on a Friday, endured a difficult Mother’s Day that Sunday, and was back at her desk Monday.”
Mary Jane Mogey was born Dec. 25, 1930, in Philadelphia to Irish immigrants. She graduated from St. Mary’s Academy in 1948, earned a scholarship to Chestnut Hill College, studied chemistry, and got a bachelor’s degree in English. Her first job was editing medical textbooks at W.B. Saunders Co.
She married Thomas Shelly in 1953, and they had sons Thomas Jr., John, Peter, David, Stephen, and Daniel, and daughters Alix, Susan, Carol, and Molly. They lived in Olney and Chestnut Hill, and Mrs. Shelly moved later to Long Beach Island and then Sellersville.
Mrs. Shelly celebrated her Irish heritage, volunteered on many civic and church boards, and donated regularly to Chestnut Hill College. She was active at Our Mother of Consolation Church in Chestnut Hill and St. Francis of Assisi Parish on Long Beach Island, and publicly represented the St. Francis’ Peace and Justice Ministry.
She played bridge and other games. She was an avid reader and listened to classical music.
She liked to linger on South Jersey beaches to watch the waves and sunsets. Family and friends called her Molly, and said she was “loving” and “amazingly strong” in online tributes.
One relative said she was the “formidable aunt, the one with the power to know you were up to something just by looking at you.” Her son Peter said: “Our house was well-ordered chaos. There was never a dull moment.”
In addition to her children, Mrs. Shelly is survived by 22 grandchildren, 10 great-grandchildren, and other relatives. A brother and granddaughter died earlier.
Visitation with the family is to be from 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday, March 8, at Our Mother of Consolation Church, 9 E. Chestnut Hill Ave., Philadelphia, Pa. 19118. A service is to follow.
Donations in her name may be made to the Benevolent Care Fund at the Community at Rockhill, Alyssa Guers, Director of Development, 12 Lutheran Home Dr., Telford, Pa. 18969.