Cynthia Kilburn Kelly—friend and mentor

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One of the legends in geriatric nursing passed away June 23, 2005, at Foulkeways, a Friends (Quaker) Retirement Center in Gwynedd, Pennsylvania. Cynthia Kilburn Kelly, first editor of Geriatric Nursing journal, was born in Bedford, Massachusetts; received her BA from Wellesley College; her BS from Columbia University; and her nursing diploma from Columbia University Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing. She attended the University of Pennsylvania where she received her master’s degree in nursing science. Cynthia was employed in clinical, teaching, and administrative nursing from 1949 to 1972. From 1972 through 1978, she was senior editor of the American Journal of Nursing; from 1979 through 1986, she served as the first editor of Geriatric Nursing. Her many interests included family, travel, music, gardening, playing Scrabble, and learning from people of the developing nations.

Cynthia was a leader in the field of geriatric nursing. As the first editor of the Journal, her expertise and philosophy formed the direction the publication would take for several years. She was the person who personally helped me leap the hurdles of neophyte editorship and, until 2 months before her death, she was still giving me advice and assistance.

Early on she recommended that I take the editorials very seriously, writing, “Your plans for the Journal sound ambitious and interesting. My only regret is that you are giving the editorial to others. A strong editorial by the editor in each issue is, I believe, the best means to develop the magazine’s character and point of view. Pat Lewis’s editorials in Nursing Outlook, Thelma Schoor’s in AJN and Barb Schutt’s in AJN are classics” (Cynthia Kelly, personal correspondence, 1994). I took her advice.

One of the features of Geriatric Nursing that she particularly enjoyed was called “70+ and Going Strong” in which she brought to the attention of readers the vitality of various-aged individuals. Her own amazing vitality was exemplified when she joined the Peace Corps at age 70 and spent 2 years on the island of Chuuk in the Federated States of Micronesia (1990-91).

Her meticulous and expansive knowledge of how to use the English language correctly was impressive. Until her last months, she was producing the Foulkeways Monthly Bulletin, the Foulkeways Literary Supplement and other newsletters, papers, and flyers for the retirement center as well as the Friends meetings that she attended faithfully.

I met Cynthia through our mutual dear friend, Mary Opal Wolanin. The 2 of them formed a formidable team; I was awestruck. As I got to know Cynthia better, I especially appreciated her dry sense of humor, her appreciation of nature, and her energy.

Another mutual friend, Neville Strumpf, PhD, RNC, FAAN, of the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, remembers, “As a young nurse working at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Cynthia wrote a murder mystery based on the life and characters of the hospital in the 1950s. Although it was never published, there is a copy of the manuscript in the collections of the Barbara Bates Center for the Study of the History of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania. It is delightfully clever, with an undertone of Cynthia’s wry humor, and provides a window into the culture of medicine and nursing during those years. Cynthia also gave a lecture at the Penn Nursing Alumni Weekend several years ago and said that “old age wasn’t bad—as long as you had the 3 M’s—Money, Mobility, and Marbles.”

A memorial service is planned for Cynthia in the fall at the Gwynedd Meeting House, near the Foulkeways Retirement Community, where she lived since 1992. Cynthia was indeed warm, responsive, and wise. She lived as she believed—that the aged should not be relegated to the “senseless, sexless, useless category.” I would refer our readers to the last thing I received from her that was published in the 25th anniversary issue of Geriatric Nursing:

“Health at any time of life, but especially in our advanced years, is inseparable from decent housing, transportation, food, water and sunshine, relief from pain, solace in loss, affection, respect, and stimulation, independence of choice, and physical-emotional care when our reserves begin to flag.”

I will miss her for many reasons.