KELSEY L. BROWN

At least one neighbor knew the sounds Kelsey Brown made when she sang.

“I often heard her beautiful voice walking to my driveway,” Lillianne Eggers posted in an online tribute.

While that voice made an impression, Kelsey also had other musical roles: arts administrator, writer, producer, teacher, director, performer. She earned degrees in music, theater and education and a master’s in theater arts administration. 

“She lived her far-too-short, deeply talented life with passion,” Kelsey’s obituary reads, “spreading the joy of music, kindness and her light.”

Kelsey got a taste of musical theater at Williamstown Middle School, according to her mother, with a part in “Seussical,” and later as a Williamstown High School junior in “Hairspray.”

It never left her.

“It was perfect for her,” recalled Brown of her daughter’s school performances. “Things just snowballed from there.”

But Kelsey had shown a knack for music early on, with piano lessons that began at 6.

“She was kind of creative from the start,” noted Brown, a singer herself who – with her husband Roger – let Kelsey jump right in.

“We gave her that exposure, and she had an aptitude for it. She got all that exposure and took that out into the world.”

Besides solo voice work, Kelsey performed in duos and bands and had her own YouTube channel. She and her fiance, Michael Dugger, both performed and taught music. She was also a long-time counselor at Gloucester County Theater Camp. 

“”She was very open and accepting,” Brown observed of Kelsey’s camp experience, including the way she reached out to a boy with autism. “She affected a lot of people’s lives.”

Still, when Brown heard from friends and strangers alike after her daughter’s death, she didn’t realize how many of those lives had Kelsey in them.

“It floored me,” she acknowledged.

One message came from Denise Chorzelewski. Her online post recalled how her son met Kelsey in college and bonded with her on stage.   

“Kelsey had a smile,” she wrote, “that would light up a room.”

When asked what she would want her daughter remembered for, Brown put music second.

“She was a good and kind person. I like to describe her as a light in the world. It’s not a cliche.

“She really was that.”

Kelsey was 29.

Sources: Farnelli Funeral Home, Legacy.com

JAMES FLAVIAN O’DONNELL

James O’Donnell didn’t just believe everyone has a purpose worth pursuing, he wanted others to believe it, too.

Known as Jay, he wasn’t just a successful entrepreneur, he also helped others start businesses. He didn’t just love dogs, he bred them. He didn’t just attend Camden Catholic High School, he served on its board of trustees, his obituary notes. 

And Jay didn’t just raise a son with Down syndrome, he started a nonprofit to support individuals with special needs.

When Jay arrived in Cherry Hill with his family from Jersey City, he was about 9 years old. He became, as his obituary put it, “a Jersey boy through and through.” 

On the mat at Camden Catholic, he was part of the undefeated 1974-’75 wrestling team and later was inducted into the school’s Green and White Hall of Fame. Upon learning of Jay’s death, the school noted on Facebook how he “exemplified the Camden Catholic ideals of honor, faith and loyalty in all he did.” 

“Jay’s leadership as a board member, his spirit as an alumnus and his pride as a hall of  fame member,” the post reads, “have created a legacy that will live on and perpetuate his memory for future generations.” 

Off the mat – and for the rest of his life – Jay was an inspiration.

As Susan Batastini put it in an online tribute, “Jay was a wonderful and kind person who brought so much joy to so many.” 

He was 68.

Sources: Schetter Funeral Home, Legacy.com  

Inside the obits

A life’s journey

We all came from somewhere. This week, we take a look at people who emigrated from other countries, not always sure of what awaited them on the other side.

When someone claims they don’t have a dime in their pocket, they figuratively mean a general lack of funds. Not so Reynaldo O. Rapada. When he eventually made it to America from the Philippines, his obituary notes, he literally had just 10 cents on him, enough to call a cousin for a ride from the airport. “That single coin represented everything: faith, courage, and the audacity to begin again with nothing but hope and determination,” the obituary adds. He was 77.

Ramona Ortiz-Pagan began life in Puerto Rico and spent much of it in Camden, where the food she made from her native land was accompanied by a contagious laugh and the stories she told, according to her obituary. “Ramona’s legacy is not defined by the date of her birth or her death, but by the countless lives she touched during the time she spent in between,” it adds. She was 64.  

Lourdes O. and Verne M. Pineda were both doctors who hailed from the Philippines, she a pediatrician, he a gastroenterologist. She spent decades at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Camden. He had a private practice for more than 40 years. The couple also made regular visits to their home country and were well-loved in their adopted one. They died 11 days apart – she at 84, he at 83 – and were celebrated with a joint funeral.

John Zak began life in Poland, from where he fled Soviet occupation with his two brothers and headed to the U.S. at 10 years old, according to his obituary. He sold fruit and vegetables from a wagon in Philadelphia to support his family after leaving high school. He eventually earned his GED and worked for years at RCA. But those early years as an immigrant “shaped the grit that would define the rest of John’s  life,” his obituary notes. He was 89.

Nikolaos Gerasimos Kokolis emigrated from Greece in the ‘60s and – with his two brothers –  lived a version of the American dream as the owner and operator of the former Country Club Diner in Voorhees, a place that had the “best snapper soup,” says a Facebook post. His “was a life,” Nikolaos’ obituary notes, “grounded in hard work, family and faith.” It also included poetry that he wrote and loved to read to his family. He was 94.

Sources: Legacy.com, Gardner Funeral Home, Circle of Life Funeral Home, Givnish Funeral Home, Mark C. Tilghman Funeral Home, Murray Paradee Funeral Home.