In Memoriam: Longtime Shrewsbury Resident & Little Silver Teacher, Susan Kolarsick Kelly, 72

Longtime Shrewsbury resident and Little Silver teacher, Susan Kolarsick Kelly, passed away in late March at the Shrewsbury home where she spent her childhood and in which she raised a loving family of her own. She was 72.

Susan Kolarsick Kelly
Photo/family via Thompson Memorial Home

“Susan dedicated her life to education, and was deeply committed to the belief that all children can succeed if given the opportunity. She loved spending time with her four grandchildren, traveling the world, attending weekly yoga sessions, maintaining a beautiful garden, and spending afternoons at Sands Beach Club in Sea Bright. She was a longtime parishioner of
Saint James Catholic Church in Red Bank.”
Loved ones of Susan Kolarsick Kelly in her obituary

Born in Newark in August of 1950 to her parents, Dr. Albert J. and Patricia Kolarsick, Susan was the third of seven children. She graduated from St. James Elementary School and Red Bank Catholic High School before earning a bachelor’s degree from Manhattanville College in 1972.

She taught middle school mathematics in Little Silver for more than 30 years, “making an indelible impact on the thousands of students, faculty, and staff that came through Point Road Elementary and Markham Place Middle schools before retiring in 2006.” While employed as a teacher, Susan earned a master’s degree in school administration from Rutgers University.

After retirement from Little Silver Public Schools, Susan served as a mathematics tutor at Sisters Academy in Asbury Park, an all girls Catholic school operated by the Sisters of Mercy. In 2022, she received the Mercy Center’s Walk with Mercy award for her service to the young women of Sisters Academy.

Before her death, Susan waged a brave battle with a rare form of cancer, beating the odds for many years with the help of Dr. Mary Louise Keohane at Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York.

She is survived by: her husband of 48 years, Robert J. Kelly, of Shrewsbury; her son, Andrew P. Kelly, his wife Lindsay and grandchildren, Piper and Roxanne, of Chapel Hill, NC; and her son Eamonn M. Kelly, wife Elana Alfred, and twin grandchildren Milo and Kaye, of Framingham, MA.

She is predeceased by: her daughter, Katherine A. Kelly; her parents, Albert J. and Patricia Kolarsick; and brothers, Albert J. Kolarsick, Jr. and Karl Kolarsick.

Visitation will be held on Friday, March 31, from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. at Thompson Memorial Home, Red Bank. A mass of christian burial will be held on Saturday, April 1 at 10 a.m. at St. James Roman Catholic Church, Red Bank. Interment will be private. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in memory of Susan to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Sisters Academy of New Jersey, or Mercy Center, NJ, of Asbury Park.

— Edited obituary prepared by family via Thompson Memorial Home