Kelly, Katherine Lorena

• Lorena Kelly

Katherine Lorena Kelly (1903-?), American missionary, was born at Mt. Mourne, North Carolina on May 17, 1903. She received a B. A. from the University of North Carolina and an M.A. from Scarritt College (Tennessee). Kelly was a Methodist Episcopal, Methodist and United Methodist Church missionary in the Central Zaire Conference for thirty-three years. In 1936, she arrived in what was then The Belgian Congo, after spending a short time in Belgium for French language instruction. Kelly served as an education worker directing primary schools, organized a junior high school for women, and taught in various institutions. During her tenure, Kelly served in Tunda, Wembo Nyama, Lubondai and Lodja. She witnessed the transfers of powers from the Colonial Committee of Fourteen in Belgium to the eventual rule of Joseph Mobutu, later known as Mobuto Sese Seko. In 1960, the Congo civil war ended with independence for the former colony which was now known as the Republic of the Congo. Kelly, along with other missionaries in the area, fled to what is now Kitwe, Zambia, during the war and did not return full-time until early 1965. Upon her return she served as dean of the Congo Polytechnique Institute. In 1969, Kelly retired from active missionary work and returned to the United States of America.