LaVerne Kelly

LaVerne Kelly was a retired public schools music counselor, who died of a lung ailment April 22 at her son's Baltimore home. The Columbia resident was 83.

Born LaVerne Beal Young in Sebrell, Va., she was the daughter of John P. Young and Leah Young, who was named the state of Virginia's first African American Mother of the Year in 1952.

Family members said the farm where she was born was on a portion of the Nottoway Indian reservation. She was an enrolled citizen of the Nottoway Indian tribe of Virginia.

As a child, she exhibited musical talent. She attended a one-room school and was the class valedictorian at the Southampton County Training School. She received an academic scholarship to Virginia State University and earned a degree in music education and English. She later studied at the University of Maine and at the Peabody Conservatory.

In 1952, Mrs. Kelly was hired as an early African American music counselor in 11 Baltimore County elementary schools.