Forward Friday.. Unsung Heroes Installment #19.. Kelly Williams In Her Own League!

So we are back for the final installment of Unsung Heroes.

Now more than ever, it is important to focus our attentions on stories that will encourage us, enlighten us and also sensitize us to, about and for people.

Most people go about their daily lives doing what they do and many if not most times, no one takes notice but if they didn’t do what they did………

Our communities I dare say would not be better off if these unsung heroes were not there.

The fatigue of this period of time has worn on so many so some real stories of everyday people can be just the right medicine to help us raise our eye levels a little bit past this 6 month grind of Covid, political uncertainty etc.

So in this final Forward Friday Unsung Heroes installment of 2020, #19 goes out to my wife and friend for life, Kelly Williams!

Kelly’s unique story of where she came from to where she is today and the many she has impacted is worth telling so tell today we shall!!

Kelly, like so many others have and continue to do their part to impact the communities they live in and so we celebrate Kelly in this installment….

So, Let’s Get Into This!!!

Miss. Kelly’s story begins in Quebec City where she was born just outside of the city in Ste. Foy. Kelly spent the first 5 years of her life growing up in the Gaspe region before her family headed out west to British Columbia for a few years.

They then moved to Ontario before settling in Montreal where she lived until she was 16 years old when she moved back to British Columbia with her mom.

That was a short-lived move as it wasn’t that long before Kelly headed back east to settle in Montreal with her father and siblings.

By the time I met Kelly when she was 32 years old, Kelly had moved 29 times!

There were times in the early days of becoming friends that we would be in different parts of the city and Kelly would remark that she used to live in this building or that building.

It was fascinating to hear that since to me, it seemed like she had lived a nomad’s type of life. But while Kelly was never bitter; there was the wondering why the upheaval was so constant?

Yet there was an inner conviction that this was not normal and that she would strive to find what she was looking for… In good time.

It is significant in spite of her childhood/teen years which were full of disappointments, distractions and family issues, it would have been very easy for Kelly to throw in the towel of her life so to speak and not have any drive to see change or try to enact some positive changes….

But Kelly had and has an inner drive to not be satisfied when things are not going in the right direction; she needs to figure it out.

That drive hasn't stopped; mid life was not kind to Kelly over the past 2 years but like the girl I know, Kelly decided to figure out how to combat this time in her life. With some expert help, overhauling her eating habits (which also meant mine too), targeted workouts, over the last 6 months, Kelly has lost 35 lbs! Crazy but that's Kelly. There must be an answer to a problem!

So after settling back into Montreal, Kelly went to night school to get her high school leaving equivalency and then put herself through college to open doors for her.

Kelly has had a wide range of employment experiences and when I was secretly quizzing her the other day as I was preparing for this installment, I was amazed at the wide range of experiences Kelly has had and even though I knew most of them, I was still amazed. Especially the talent agency; I think I could have been casted for something, don’t you think?

Kelly was: A Waitress

Dunkin Donuts (No, we don’t get discounts even today but those donuts paid her way through college!)

Manager of an Arcade

Secretary Different Offices

Accounts Payable Supervisor

Assistant Manager Talent Agency Toronto

Administrative Assistant Different Offices

Secretary Evangel Church

Administrative Office Manager Chiropractic Clinic

Administrative Assistant Walk In Clinic Jewish General Hospital

Office Manager Dental Clinic

Administrative Assistant Manulife Securities Present

So when we met and started hanging out, when the progression began to naturally happen that we could become more, there was this realization that she could become a minister’s wife.

There are no courses that one can take to prep one for this life Kelly was potentially going to walk into so we had a number of talks.

What impressed me the most was not that Kelly had pat answers or scripted responses; I soon recognized that Kelly had and continues to have a high ceiling to learn, grow and adapt as life unfolds itself.

Soon, I began to see the impact she started to have with our teens in our youth center, our young adult/university group. Her life experiences and how she navigated those moments were helpful as Kelly would interact, counsel and encourage those she would come in contact with.

It would never cease to amaze me how the young people and people in general would be on the “Look Out” for Kelly!!

Kelly even took some marriage counselling courses and has helped me over the years as we would counsel and help married couples or those on the road to marriage.

It would be interesting how people would and still gravitate to Kelly; I think because she is real, unscripted, caring and with all of her attributes, people long for the “Real” and Kelly is definitely Real.

But there is much more to Kelly than meets the eye.

I think because of Kelly’s background and upbringing, there is a rooting for the underdog, the less fortunate, the vulnerable, the lonely, and the overlooked.

This passion really took off when we went to work at a mission in Los Angeles in 2001.

There was this new dimension that grew out of that week we spent there and over the years, Kelly has been involved in many endeavors, working with the homeless, the vulnerable.

Kelly assisted me when I had the honor to run a homeless day center downtown, assisted and helped me with outreach thanksgiving dinners, clothes drives and more.

For many years, Kelly baked goodies in our neighborhood when new neighbors would move in near and beside us and was instrumental in planning a street block party we did on our street which was one of those “Bringing The Neighborhood Together” moments that was pretty awesome.

If Mike Holmes or Bob Vila ever wanted an apprentice for 1 month, Kelly would sign up in a minute.

Kelly also had her own online jewelry store where all her pieces were originals. How did that start? A summer vacation in the hotel room for the better part of a week because of bad weather, a few trips to Michael’s and it began!!!

Kelly loves to bike, travel, car drives, explore new places.

I know Kelly was pretty amazing helping to take care of mom during the 15 years mom lived with us and especially the last 6 months of her life.

Mom loved having the daughter she wanted and their shopping, hair days, get out of the house days would be things mom would always talk about when she couldn’t do those things like she once did.

Grateful……..

Still, of the many things I think make Kelly an unsung hero are the calls she will get from those she’s had relationship with who still call to talk because they miss her and always come away better for it or they want to meet to talk because they value her wisdom and experience.

But if you ask Kelly if she is doing anything special, she would say that this is what she does.

They do what they do because it matters and we win when unsung heroes do what they do!

We salute you Miss. Kelly and thank you for rising above the early days and that you continue to leave an indelible impression on all you meet and connect with!

It is clear and obvious that those you come in contact with are left better for knowing you!!

Dave

These unsung heroes aren’t doing what they do for glory, grandeur or accolades but we need to be thankful because they help make our days, weeks, months better and we are truly better for having them in our lives!

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