Mary Ovada Kelly

Mary Ovada Tisdale Kelly, 86, a resident of Glenwood, Alabama, passed away peacefully at Aspire Nursing Facility in Hoover, Alabama on Wednesday, June 18th, 2025. Funeral services for Mary will be held at 11 AM on Saturday, June 21st, from the Chapel of Turners Funeral Home with Rev. Travis Kidd officiating and her sons, Barry and Fred Kelly, speaking. Interment will follow in Providence Cemetery with Turners Funeral Home of Luverne directing.

Mary was born April 4, 1939, as the third youngest of ten siblings who grew up on the family farm in Glenwood, Alabama. It was there she learned her work ethic by picking cotton to make money as well as other life chores. After high school, she would move off to first work at the department store Bellas Hess and then later at Morrison's Cafeteria in Montgomery. Growing up during one of the most pivotal times in our country's existence, she experienced the aftermath of a worldwide Depression, the turmoil of multiple wars, including World War II, Korea and Vietnam. This helped build in her the kind of resilience and perseverance that saw her through difficulties in her own life.


Mary's persistence and tenacity throughout life was an example to all who knew her, as was her lighthearted and joyful spirit. There were few things she enjoyed more than being able to make others laugh. She was also a phenomenal cook who loved feeding her family and friends. Mary was blessed with a wonderful green thumb, and whether rolling out biscuits or pruning roses, you were most likely to hear her singing her gospel favorites as she so often praised her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, in whose healing arms she rests today.

Above all, she was a devoted mother who sacrificed much for the sake of her 3 boys, grandsons, and great-grandchildren. Words simply cannot express how much she meant to so many, nor how sorely she will be missed by all those who knew and loved her.

Mary was preceded in death by her parents, Dewitt Llewellyn "Moses" & Vera Ovada Roberts Tisdale, and her siblings, Laura F. Wells, Myra E. Pouncey, Wesley E. Tisdale, Myrtle A. Crawford, Doris McElwain, Travis D. Tisdale, and Edna Llewellyn Ward, and her first grandson Jeremiah Alan Stewart. She is survived by her beloved sons and daughters-in-law, Anthony Howard Stewart & Teresa Elliott, Barry L. & Kimberly Kelly, and Fred D. & Tiffany Kelly; grandchildren, Jonathan Frank (Katie) Little, Justin Lee (Sarah) Little, Houston Collier Kelly, & Harmon Davis Kelly; great-grandchildren, Leah Little, Makayla Little, Nicholas Little, Gabriel Little, & Christopher Little; siblings, Quitman Douglas Tisdale and Patricia Arlene Franklin; and a host of nieces, nephews, extended family members, and friends.

In lieu of flowers, Mary would want memorial donations to be made to her longtime home church, Bethel Baptist Church.