Amesbury - Amesbury - I am Nan Kelleher of Amesbury Ma. After a short battle with colon cancer, I passed away peacefully at my home in Amesbury Massachusetts on October 20, 2025 surrounded by my family. I am survived by my beloved sister Marie Goreham and her husband William P Goreham of Salem Ma., my brother John Kelleher Jr and his wife Charlotte of Hooksett, NH., as well as my former sister-in-law Joan Burke and her husband Michael Burke of Essex. I also leave three nieces and their husbands: Stacy (Goreham) and Scott Jordan of Salem, Ma., Kelly (Kelleher) and David De Roche of Beverly Ma., Heather (Kelleher) and Travis Fitzgerald of Peabody Ma., my nephew Robert Goreham of Salem, Ma along with many great nieces and great nephews.

I also leave my late husband Dick Kelleher's sister Margaret McClure and his brother Peter Kelleher.

I was predeceased by Dick's brother Arthur V Kelleher Jr, his sister Elizabeth Perkins and his brother-in-law Milton McClure.

I was born on Feb 20, 1948, to my wonderful parents John E (Jack) and Mary (Moroney) Kelleher in Salem, Ma. on my sister Marie's 1st birthday, making us true Irish twins. I often told Marie that I was the best birthday gift she ever received (she did not always agree). We grew up in a house on Fowler St in Salem that my grandparents built after the Salem fire.

At four years of age, I started kindergarten at St James on Federal St in Salem. School was going to be just great; I told my mother that we had Little Bo Peep in our class. It turns out it was actually a boy named Phillip O'Keefe and while he was a nice little boy, he was NOT Little Bo Beep. Thirteen years later, in 1965, I graduated from St James High School along with a good number of the girls I started with. Included in that number was my lifelong friend Kathy Moore who has been there for me from the beginning and our friendship has endured throughout our lives.

I graduated from Marion Court in Swampscott in 1967 and embarked on my career at the Essex County District Attorney's office. The first twelve years were spent working under the John P. Burke administration. One day late in 1973, a handsome young lawyer named Dick Kelleher reported for his new position of Assistant District Attorney. On May 30, 1975, I married that fella and moved to Newburyport.

Kevin M Burke took over as the new District Attorney in January of 1979. He kept me on in his administration and I was very happy there for the next 12 years.

In 1985 for our 10th anniversary Dick and I purchased a home in Bartlett, NH. It was one of the best decisions we ever made. Our friend John St Cyr owned a pool/spa business in Salisbury and set us up with a twelve-person hot tub. A typical Saturday evening began with a good soak in the hot tub and ended at either the Scarecrow or the Wentworth Golf Club for an intimate dinner for twenty or so people.

It was in Bartlett that I reunited with an old ski club friend and a part of the Bartlett Builders- Gige (George) Brennan and his new bride Annabelle. We became dear friends and there was hardly a weekend that went by when we didn't see each other. In all that time a cross word was never spoken (we were too busy laughing).

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention our other close friends Gary Little and June Ryerson. They had an absolutely beautiful piece of land and their own dock on the Merrimack River. When we weren't in Bartlett, we were often on their boat, the "Valley Girl"

In 1991 we had the opportunity to live on a property we had purchased on St Croix in the US Virgin Islands. That adventure lasted two years when reality set in and it was time to come back home. Dick re opened his law practice and I went to work with him.

In 1993 we started looking for land to build a new home on. On a crystal-clear March day we found ourselves at the top of Prospect St in Amesbury, Ma. Looking out across the trees we could see the hotel on the Isles of Shoals. Dick looked at me and said, "It looks like we are moving to Amesbury". After securing an architect from Great Woods Post & Beam our dream home was built.

Around the same time our good buddy Ron Pomerleau retired and moved with his wife Rena to live full time up in "North Country" and started putting together bus tours for up to 40 people from Massachusetts to varied destinations in Europe. And so, the European part of our travel adventures began.

On one trip a couple of Catholic school girls found themselves staying in a converted convent that was also a vineyard, in Venice. We finally found out what those nuns were doing behind those cloistered walls!

In Scotland Dick was able to pursue his passion by playing golf on "The Old Course" in St Andrews Fife. I was not left in the lurch as there was plenty of shopping and eating establishments in town, which were my passions.

We saw Paris as we floated down the Seine. We also traveled to Normandy and on the way to the cemetery there the site of the American Flags flying overhead was one of the most impressive things any American can witness.

Our everyday life went on pretty much as expected until Dick found the stress of maintaining a busy law practice was too much for him and we retired. I lost my very best friend when Dick died from complications of diabetes on September 2, 2014. Life did go on in a predictable fashion but just wasn't as much fun without my Dickie.

I can't complete this obituary without including the dogs we had throughout our life together. Not a day went by when we weren't laughing about some antic or another they got up to.

Our first dog belonged to my uncle Charlie and my cousin Ken. When Ken got married, he moved into an apartment that did not allow pets. Sight unseen I went down to my uncle's house and picked up Shaggy (Shag), a 125lb sheepdog. I was a very happy woman. For my part, it was love at first sight. I believe the feeling was mutual, as on our very first Thanksgiving together Shag was out patrolling the neighborhood and came home with a fully cooked turkey and proudly deposited it at my feet as if to say, "Look what I brought you"! My Thanksgiving guests that year had extra leftovers (I did not share where they came from).

Clancy came next, our animal shelter special. Every weekend before we left for New Hampshire he would sit for his clean bandana, thus giving him the nickname "Fancy Clancy".

Next was our Corkey. He was intended to be a service dog for Dick, but no one told him that. He was a beautiful yellow lab that thought the world was his oyster. Whenever Dick and I were invited to a cookout, house party or other social gathering the invitation always included Corkey.

Lastly came our black lab, Dylan. We hadn't discussed getting a new puppy but Dick came home with her as a surprise for me so I wouldn't be alone when he died. She stayed by my side for the next 14 years. Dylan was everything and more that Dick hoped she would be.

My family and friends may call on Friday October 24, 2025, from 9:00 to 11:00 am at the Twomey, LeBlanc, & Conte Funeral Home 193 High St. Newburyport, MA 01950. My Funeral Mass will follow at 11:30 am at Immaculate Conception Church followed by burial at St. Mary's Cemetery, both also in Newburyport.

In lieu of flowers, please donate to St Jude Children's Research Hospital online at https://www.stjude.org/

For directions or to offer online condolences please visit www.tlcfuneralhome.com