Obituary of Mudite (Dee) Paegle Kelleher

Chatham Center resident Dee Kelleher passed away on the morning of Sunday, December 17, at the age of 83.

Born on February 3, 1940 in Latvia, a small northern European country on the Baltic Sea, Dee was the second daughter after sister Mara, to Juris Paegle, M.D. and Elza Lukins Paegle, D.D.S. Latvia was invaded by Russia towards the end of WWII, and the family was threatened to be deported to a Siberian labor camp. In response to this threat, they fled from Latvia to a refugee camp under Allied control in northern Germany. A third daughter, Inese, was born in the camp in 1945. In 1949, a great uncle living in Queens, NY sponsored the family, and they were blessed to immigrate to the United States along with Dee's maternal grandmother, Tata. Dee became a naturalized US citizen with her grandmother, parents and sisters in 1954.

Living in their new home in Queens, the young family struggled to rebuild their lives within post war America. At age nine, Dee needed to quickly learn English and adapt to a new culture outside the home, while inside her home, the food and customs of her Latvian roots dominated. The family valued their Latvian heritage and traditions among this new culture - blue jeans were definitely prohibited for the girls, they wore looped side braids, and their hair would not be cut until age 13, to name a few examples. Due to the family's financial struggles, material things were precious gifts to be appreciated. A simple orange could be the singular present in a Christmas stocking.

Dee's father resumed his medical practice in the US and moved the family to Schenectady, NY in 1956. Dee's mother rode over an hour on a train to work in a chocolate factory. Dee earned her high school diploma, and then a B.S. in Business from Russell Sage College, where she was initiated into the 100 year old Latvian women's university society, Gundagas. Dee held various jobs both in the area and in Boston until she met Patrick Henry Kelleher, a young, handsome, ambitious engineer, in 1965. In June, 1966 they married, and their partnership lasted until Pat's passing in 2007.

Both being skilled and hardworking, Pat and Dee worked together to build their Chatham Center homestead. During this time, Pat worked full time at General Dynamics, and Dee had primary care of raising their four children, all under the age of five.  In 1980, Dee began a career at Crellin Plastics in Chatham, NY first as a receptionist, then as a plant scheduler, inventory supervisor and other production control roles until she retired in 2001. In her new retirement, she welcomed the opportunity to help care for Sydney, her first granddaughter, which created a special lasting bond between Sydney and her grandmother.

The early loss of security and stability in her childhood, in addition to the conflicting battle between age-old traditions and peer pressures of youth, would serve to significantly influence the person Dee came to be.  These hardships blessed her with the gifts of strong character, fierce independence, and determination. Her children warmly remember their Mom coming home from work and enjoying sitting by the pool, which she had helped build by digging by hand through shale with a pick axe and flat shovel.

Dee also had a wonderful unconventional outlook on life. She taught her children that you did not have to eat only "breakfast food" for breakfast; fish or soup were fine too. One should not strive to be like everyone else, and you should unapologetically be your unique self. She had an eye for the unusual, and would see the "art" in unique pieces that most would see as just old and worn. Dee had a gift for finding quirky pieces, and creating beautiful warm spaces with them.

Dee loved reading, and stacks of books populated her rooms. She was a regular at the local public library, and she gratefully accepted books from friends and neighbors who shared her tastes. She enjoyed estate sales, as could be seen in the rotating "collectables" that graced the walls, tabletops, and mantle of her home. Her unconventional tastes made for interesting décor, and Dee was always game for bargain hunting at any "off price" store, thrift store, or antique shop from Hudson to Pittsfield and beyond.

Dee's love of her garden can be traced to her Latvian heritage, where the people are deeply attached to nature and the land. She loved her garden and her plants that filled every sunny window. Family lore says she could put a stick in dirt, ignore it for weeks, and it would grow! Her garden was also a space for the odd garden ornament, creating charming vignettes of chimes and statues, bugs and water elements, but most of all an abundance of flowers. She loved her flowers, but she loved her grandchildren more. They often rampaged through her gardens, picking any or all of her favorite flowers, but Dee never objected, and simply appreciated her grandchildren at play.

Her grandchildren, Ava and Olivia, remember how Dee loved the interestingly shaped driftwood they would find for her at the creek, as long as it did not look too much like a snake. Sydney cherishes many childhood memories of quality time spent with her grandmother, as Dee regularly cared for her. One thing Sydney came to admire most about Dee was her uncanny, yet caring, way of grounding others and refocusing them on what was truly important.

Dee loved her grandsons Zack, Mason and Landon from afar, as they are on the West Coast. Her fear of flying would keep her bound to the East Coast, but she would treasure and share the photos and stories of their lives and growth. Glimmers of Dee's greatest attributes can be seen in all of her grandchildren, but especially a knack for cooking in Mason, a love of the outdoors and fishing in Zach, and an affinity for hunting for unique treasures in Landon.

Her passion for food, such as making it, eating it, experimenting with recipes, and cooking with her children and grandchildren, has left lasting memories within her family. It was one of her expressions of her fierce love. Red cabbage, bacon, chicken and dumplings, Quiche Lorraine, tomato sandwiches, and coleslaw all top a long list of dishes that flood the senses with memories of home. Dee's sister remembers that Tata taught Dee how to make raspberry jam, and that Dee and their father would make it together with their own home-grown and harvested raspberries.

The home she and her husband Pat created and dearly cherished, the place where endless family memories live on, is where she was blessed to remain right up until her final days.

Dee is survived by her children Mitchel Patrick Kelleher of Chatham Center, NY, Desiree Deidre Kelleher of Chatham Center, NY, Bonnie Jeanette Kelleher (Rich Blass) of Ghent, NY, Nicholas Lee Kelleher (Traci Allen Kelleher) of Bellevue, WA; her grandchildren Sydney Putnam, Zack, Mason and Landon Kelleher, Olivia and Ava Kelleher; her niece Stephanie Lubis of Clifton Park, NY; and her sister Inese Paegle Kaufman of Stamford, CT.

Services will be held at Wenk Funeral Home, 21 Payn Ave, Chatham, NY, on January 8th, 2024, from 10am-12pm. Burial will take place immediately following at Chatham Center Rural Cemetery. A celebration of life will be planned for a later date. Donations in lieu of flowers may be sent in Dee's name to Columbia-Greene Humane Society/SPCA online or sent to: 111 Humane Society Road, Hudson, NY 12534, Chatham Rescue Squad, Inc., 11 Moore Ave, Chatham, NY 12037 or Tri-Village Fire Dept., 111 County Route 13, Old Chatham, NY 12136.