Family Matriarch

Mattie Mae Kelly-Midgette, born to the late Lucille Smith-Kelly and Woodrow Kelly on February 9, 1940, in Kelton, South Carolina, grew up amidst the challenges of the southern cotton fields and sharecropping. In 1956, she moved to Brooklyn, New York, and in January 1959, she wed William Midgette. They were blessed with six children: Charles Kelley, Marie, Earl, Anthony, Sherry, and Michael.