Jenny Kelsey passed away on October 13, 2021 from complications following a stroke suffered last May. Thanks to Suzie Wooster Wilsey for passing on the sad news.

Jenny with her beloved golden retrievers. She often brought them to her New York office.   Photo by Ned Polan.

We may remember Jenny as an avid athlete and musician in high school. But we may not know that she enjoyed a remarkable career as a distinguished epidemiologist. Jenny held faculty positions at Yale, Columbia, and Stanford, directed academic departments, and served on advisory committees for the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). At the same time, she authored two books on methods of epidemiology, and the causes of musculoskeletal disorders. For her work, Jenny was honored with awards from Smith College, Yale University, and the American Public Health Association. Outside of her office, Jenny bred golden retrievers and volunteered for Golden Retriever Rescue. She was a devoted Red Sox fan, and loved hiking with her dogs.

The following details are adapted from Jenny's obituary by Genevieve Bookwalter in the Stanford Medicine News of 11/8/2021. https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2021/11/jennifer-kelsey-obit.html

After studying biology at Smith College, Jenny went on to earn a master's degree in public health in 1966 and a doctorate in epidemiology in 1969 from Yale University. She taught epidemiology at Yale for 14 years, then moved to Columbia University in New York City were she was head of the Division of Epidemiology from 1983-1991. She joined Stanford University's faculty in 1991 and served as the chief of the Division of Epidemiology at Stanford Medicine. Jenny's research focused on diseases within the joints, bones, spine, muscles, and connective tissues as well as the reasons and consequences of falls in older adults. After retiring in 2003, Jenny moved to Connecticut.

Colleagues recall that Jenny was a tough and inspiring teacher whose textbook on methods of epidemiology prepared her students well for work in the field.

They also remember that Jenny had a passion for golden retrievers, and her dogs were a regular presence in her office. She also bred golden retrievers, and many of her dogs became therapy or crisis comfort dogs, earning obedience and therapy dog titles."... One colleague remarked, "...if I could return as a dog, I would want to be one of hers."

For more about Jenny's professional life, see:

https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2021/11/jennifer-kelsey-obit.html

https://medicine.yale.edu/profile/115741/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_L._Kelsey

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I was Jenny's friend from kindergarten through high school. Here are some of my memories. (Linda Linnard Andre)

At Edgemont School, Jenny outshone most of us at sports, and was terrific with a baseball bat. But it was as the founder of the "Log Cabin Club" that I most remember her. The club met on Saturday mornings in her attic. I don't remember anything that we actually did in that attic except sing the Log Cabin Club song, composed by Jenny.  (Log Cabin Club, Log Cabin Club. We will be loyal to the dear old red and white (white and red). We will be loyal, we will be true, to the dear Log Cabin Club.).

Here are some club members singing on a snowy Saturday after sledding down Jenny's very steep driveway. Standing, from left: Nancy Pierson, Jenny Kelsey, Teddy Africano, Heidi Fry. Seated: Jane Roberts, Genie Kennedy, Lotte Ringer (half hidden), Linda Linnard, Peggy Ruppert, and Susan Langway.

Sometime during our years at George Inness Jr. High, Jenny and I turned philosophical, discussing questions of creation such as "How can something come out of nothing?"  We went round and round about it and finally decided to ask her music teacher what he thought. I recall that he was somewhat taken aback. It was then that we realized that teachers don't know everything, and some questions are hard. Little did I know that Jenny would go on to a lifetime of asking hard questions as an academic and prominent reasearcher in her field.

Jenny really liked music. During high school, she formed a band that practiced in the living rooom of her house. It was called "The Superlatives" (that name might have been a bit of a stretch). I still have the program for "An Evening of Music" that we offered to our parents. The program lists Linda Dunne on drums, Annette Hannemann on clarinet and vocals, Jenny Kelsey on trumpet and clarinet, Lennie Stovel on saxophone and clarinet, and me (Linda) on piano. I remember I was really terrible -- always getting lost and unable to keep up. However, the others pulled us through. We played On the Street Where you Live, I'm in the Mood for Love, Night and Day, April Love, and 5 more songs.  There were two intermissions and refreshments were served in the dining room.

In 1957 (our sophomore year), Sputnik was launched, and Jenny and I wanted to see it for ourselves. One morning about 4 or 5 a.m.,when the sky was still as black as ink, we walked to Edgemont Park where we had an open view of the dark sky. We watched and watched, but I don't think we ever saw Sputnik. Instead, I remember seeing milk delivery trucks traveling down Valley Road all by themselves in the pre-dawn hour. Now that I think of it, I am astonished that we were out in the middle of the night, alone and fearless.

During the summer, we both worked at Hahne's department store in Newark.  Jenny was in the ladies' dress department; I sold lingerie. I mostly remember the hot bus ride home from Newark to Montclair at the end of the day.

Jenny found her life's path in college.  She went first to graduate school in Connecticut and stayed a while, then moved on to New York  City and California.  Her Christmas cards told of the pressures of academic life with its relentless pressure to secure research grants and funding. But each card also brought a snapshot of her beloved dogs and views of quiet places in the woods where they liked to go hiking together. 

If you would like to share your own thoughts and memories of Jenny, just click on "Post Comment" (below), or send your comments to me (linda.andre@verizon.net) and I will be happy to post them on this website.

Linda

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https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2021/11/jennifer-kelsey-obit.html