Kelly Francis Obituary – Beloved husband, father, grandfather, son, son-in-law, brother, brother-in-law, uncle, friend, chess master, physicist, and devout Catholic Dr. Francis Joseph Kelly, PhD died on May 15, 2024, after a brief illness at the age of 83. Francis, also known as “Frank” and “Lolo”, was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1940 on Columbus Day. During his delivery the forceps slipped and scratched his face, leaving a one-inch scar.
Eldest of four, Francis was named for his Irish grandfather, whose murder precipitated his father’s emigration to the United States. In his youth “Fran” was an altar boy, Cub Scout, and had a newspaper route. As a tall, thin boy at Mount Saint Joseph High School in Baltimore, he participated in athletics, school plays, and debate society. He twice was the Maryland state junior chess champion.
While pursuing his doctorate in physics at Catholic University, Francis started his career as a government research physicist at the U.S. Bureau of Standards. More importantly, he met Angelita Castro, a graduate student at the University of Maryland who herself was a valedictorian in Physics and Math from the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, Philippines.
Francis completed his Ph.D. thesis on the topic of neutrinos at Catholic University, where he had studied under Dr. Clyde Cowan, the co-discoverer of neutrinos. He started working as a civilian physicist at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). After having three children, Angie took a job at the NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center.
