Kelly Meade Obituary, Death – Kelli A. (Donegan) Meade, a loving wife and mother, a caring sister, and a doting aunt, passed away unexpectedly at home. It is with great sadness and a sense of loss that the death of Kelli A. (Donegan) Meade, who lived in Marshfield, was announced. Her husband, Joseph P. Meade, and their son, Patrick J. Meade, are the only members of her family who are able to carry on her legacy and honor her memory. She is also survived by her brother, David M. Donegan, Jr., of Lynnfield, and her sister, Kerri A. Trapasso (of New Jersey), as well as her sister’s husband, Thomas Trapasso, and their children Elena, Thomas, and Sophia. She is also survived by her sister, Kerri A. Trapasso’s husband, Thomas Trapasso. In addition, Kelli leaves behind a long legacy of former students whom she fostered and encouraged to become successful throughout her 27 years of teaching in the public schools of Whitman and Norwell.
Kelli was born on March 7, 1968 in the city of Lynn, Massachusetts, to parents named David M. and Cheryl D. (O’Neil) Donegan. She spent her formative years in the nearby community of Lynnfield. She exhibited the same level of prowess in the classroom as she did on the athletic field when she was a young child. After achieving success on the varsity level as an athlete in both softball and field hockey, she inevitably felt a stronger calling on the academic side of education and began working toward the long-term goal of instilling that same love of learning in other people. She went on to earn her bachelor’s degree from Salem State University and her master’s degree from the University of Massachusetts, both of which she later used to become a professor at the same institution. Her true calling was to shape the minds of children, and it was in this capacity that she formulated her enduring educational credo, “nothing is hard…just challenging.” Kelli adopted this phrase as her guiding principle for the entirety of her life and met each obstacle with unbridled fervor and passion.
Marblehead Light has held a special place in Kelli’s heart for as long as she can remember, but the memory of the place has taken on an even deeper significance ever since her husband popped the question to her there. After that, on July 19, 1997, Joe and Kelli officially started their new life together as a married couple. Their home did not feel complete until Kelli’s second love, Patrick, was born into the world and became a member of their family. She instilled in him a love for both academics and sports from a young age.
Her life’s passion, other than her family, was teaching, and she accomplished this by cultivating a community within the classroom in which she served not only as a teacher but also as a model for her pupils. She devoted a significant portion of her professional life to assisting in the organization and facilitation of a variety of extracurricular activities, and she spent twenty years serving as a mentor to the student government. Her students as well as her coworkers looked up to her as a model of educational excellence who had a lifelong love of intellectual curiosity. She had a genuine interest in learning new things. As a token of appreciation for all of the work she has done for the Norwell Public Schools in 2019, she was presented with the North Star award. The numerous expressions of appreciation and gratitude from the many students who had the distinct honor of having “Mrs. Meade” as their teacher far outweigh these recognitions, which pale in comparison to the numerous accolades that have been bestowed upon “Mrs. Meade.”
Her family and her students were not the only people in her sphere of influence. Kelli hardly ever went anywhere without running into someone who she knew on a personal level, and this was one of the reasons why. Kelli possessed the rare ability to engage in conversation with friends as well as strangers in a way that made each person feel as though they were of paramount importance. As a consequence of this, the world has become a more depressing place as a result of her passing because she brought so much happiness to the people who had the privilege of knowing her. She will be greatly missed by everyone.