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Her Life

Roberta Joan Kelleher Brady

April 30, 2016


Born May 29, 1923 in Lowell, Massachusetts, Roberta Joan Kelleher was the daughter of William B. Kelleher and Alice Johanna Bekins. She grew up in Roslindale, a suburb of Boston, MA, with two younger siblings, Peter and Alice. After their mother was hospitalized, Roberta took care of her brother and sister until she graduated from Roslindale High School.

Though she knew she wanted to be a nurse, at 17 Roberta was too young to be accepted into a nursing program. She took general college classes for a year and then began her training at Faulkner Hospital in Jamaica Plains. Roberta completed  the three-year program and then, along with seven of her fellow classmates, she volunteered to join the U.S. Army Nurse Corps as a 2nd Lieutenant.  

After basic orientation, Roberta was stationed at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri, where she joined the 135th Evacuation Hospital Unit. The unit shipped out to Le Harve, France, to care for soldiers wounded in battle. As she remembered, "In World War II, everything in the Army was moved in tanks, jeeps or two-and-a-half-ton trucks. Troop casualties and their nurses were mostly moved in the back of the trucks." Roberta traveled in Army trucks through Liege, Belgium, over the Rhine River into Aachen, Germany and on to Bonn and Dusseldorf. Her unit set up hospital tents in the field, attended to casualties and prepared soldiers for evacuation to England and the United States.

After victory was declared in Europe in May 1945, the nurses treated prisoners released from concentration camps. A few months later, her unit was flown to Marseilles, France, to prepare for troop care in the South Pacific. Roberta and her fellow nurses were en route to Manila when the war with Japan ended. Their ship was rerouted to New York, and there the unit was deactivated.

Roberta stayed in the Army after the war, first as a 1st Lietenant nurse at O'Reilly General Hospital in Missouri and later at Valley Forge General Hospital in Pennsylvania. Her active duty ended when she requested Army reserve status so she could complete her bachelor of science degree at Boston University, where she served as vice-president of the 1950 nursing class.

It was during her reserve service, she met her future husband, Joseph Thomas Brady, an officer in the Army Medical Service Corps. They married May 15, 1951, in Boston, MA. When her husband was sent on active duty during the Korean War, Roberta asked to be put on inactive reserve status. Because her brother-in-law Jack Whittaker was also stationed in Korea, Roberta shared her Norwood, MA, home with her sister Alice and niece Deb.

Later, Joe was stationed in San Antonio, TX, for several years and sons Pat and Bill were born there; in addition, Roberta accompanied Joe on overseas assignments to Japan and Taiwan, where their second son, Don, was born. Following Joe's military service, the family bought a home in Fairfax, VA, and Roberta reactivated her nursing license to serve as a school nurse. The Brady family lived in the Mosby Woods neighborhood for more than 30 years. In later years, Joe and Roberta lived in Lake Caroline, VA, Leesburg, FL, and Fredericksburg, VA

Roberta enjoyed sewing, quilting and knitting. She was an avid walker and swimmer, as well as participating in tai chi, yoga and other exercise classes until her final illness. While living at The Virginian in Fairfax, VA, from 2012-2015, she joined the Virginian-Aires, a choral group. 

Roberta died April 27, 2016, at the Capital Caring Alder Center hospice in Aldie, VA, from complications caused by a brain tumor. At the time of her death, she was a resident of Spring Arbor in Leesburg, VA.

Roberta's husband of 55 years, Joe, preceded her in death. She is survived by her siblings, Peter Kelleher of Peabody, MA, and Alice Whittaker of Bath, ME; her sons, Pat Brady of Pasadena, CA, Don Brady of Marietta, GA, and Bill Brady of Round Hill, VA, and daughter-in-laws Nancy and Jody Brady; six grandchildren (Matt Brady, Kelly Brady Smith, Colin Brady, Evan Brady, Ryan Brady and Dan Brady) and two great-grandchildren (Eloise and Henry Smith).