Dolores Calla McGettrick Gelly

Dolores Calla McGettrick Gelly died January 4th in Charlottesville Virginia, where she had lived since 2021. She was the youngest of three children born to Arthur John McGettrick of Burlington Vermont and Mary Margaret Myers of Washington D.C. Three of her grandparents were first-generation Irish, and the fourth was of old Vermont family and descended from six Revolutionary War veterans. Dolores was born October 2, 1934 in Catonsville, Maryland. She attended high school in Memphis Tennessee while living with her elder sister Mary Ann and brother-in-law Dr. William A. Lampley. Although accepted for study at Vanderbilt University, she enrolled in nursing college in Los Angeles at the insistence of her mother, a longtime nurse. Dolores became a Registered Nurse and met her future husband George Gelly when he was hospitalized for a tuberculosis relapse. Only twenty at the time and nine years his junior, Dolores proposed marriage despite George’s compromised health. They were married on July 14, 1956 and settled in Santa Monica California and later Pacific Palisades. Children followed in 1957, 1958, 1959, 1961 and 1964. The youngest, Arthur, was born in Atlanta where the family had relocated about 1963. Dolores returned to nursing in the 1970s and worked at Northside Hospital for 25 years. She was a highly respected Labor, Delivery and Postpartum specialist, and her patients were grateful for her candid and memorable voice of experience. As a couple, Dolores and George Gelly were a study in contrasts. Dolores could be extroverted, intuitive and prone to express strongly held beliefs. George was reserved by nature, logical and carefully weighed every option. They were united by sense of humor and the never-ending exigencies of raising five children. Harrowing life-threatening illnesses struck her husband and second son George. Dolores helped her family to navigate these crises and nursed the sick to health. Dolores was very musical in her youth, playing guitar and possessing a fine voice. She was a longtime member of the Episcopal church choir in the 1960s and 1970s. She was an experienced and crowd-pleasing cook and enthusiastic party goer. Dolores and George were active in the Atlanta St. Andrew’s Society and Burns Club, hosting the traditional Scottish New Year’s Day celebration at their house for two decades. Widowed at sixty, after her husband’s final illness and decades supporting others, Dolores began life anew on her own. Once again, she gravitated to her older sister Mary Ann Lampley, moving to Hendersonville, North Carolina in the early 2000s. Mary Ann and the Lampley family embraced Dolores and enfolded her into their daily lives. Her youngest son Arthur became her mainstay during widowhood, providing daily emotional support and introducing her to the Turkish Angora breed of cat. Three males, Cueball, and then Damon and Cal, formed her closest and most amiable companions over twenty years. Dolores was highly skilled at sewing and especially at quilting. Every new grandchild and friend’s baby was greeted with a blanket or quilt. She produced handmade clothes for grandchildren and masterwork quilts, living embodiments of her. In her last years she joined a local quilting guild and showed some of her earlier work. In 2018 and 2020 Dolores suffered the losses of her son George and elder sister Mary Ann, after which she relocated to Charlottesville Virginia. The staff of the Colonnades, and, especially, Hospice of the Piedmont supported her and changed her life in many positive ways during her five years’ residence. Once in Charlottesville, Dolores’ obvious favorite was daughter-in-law Cordelia, whose crown is adorned with many stars for serving her mother-in-law so well and for so long. As a child, Dolores learned the power of words and how they may be used to surprise, entertain and challenge. She had an endless supply of expressions and turns of phrase. Things might be bad, she said, but it wasn’t yet time to “blow the matterhorn." Of high native intelligence, Dolores was a person of great determination, irreverent wit, and almost superhuman durability. By temperament she never shrank from the fight but was sometimes at a loss when it was over and life around her grew quiet. Dolores was predeceased by her sister Mary Ann McGettrick Lampley and brother John Francis McGettrick, her husband George Estes Vaughan Gelly, and her son George Balfour Gelly II. She is survived by Dr. John A. Gelly (Helen) of Marietta Georgia and Taos New Mexico, James V. Gelly (Cordelia) of Charlottesville Virginia, Mary Ann Gelly (Paul Mosse) of Inistioge Ireland, Arthur M. Gelly of Washington D.C., ten grandchildren and three great granddaughters. A memorial service will be held at St. James Episcopal Church in Marietta Georgia at 10:00 on Wednesday February 11th, followed by a graveside ceremony. Donations in lieu of flowers may be made to Hospice of the Piedmont (hopva.org).

Dolores Calla McGettrick Gelly

October 2, 1934 - January 4, 2026