Nancy Kelly Calder, secretary, writer

Nancy J. Gillespie Kelly Calder of South Dennis, Mass., a former Ridgefielder who had worked on television and movie scripts, died on Friday, Feb. 7, at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis. She was the wife of Stuart Calder.
Mrs. Calder, the only daughter of Earle William and Jennie Lawrence Gillespie, was born in Norwalk and grew up in Ridgefield. She attended Ridgefield High School and Rogers Hall in Lowell, Mass. She graduated from Greenwich Academy in Greenwich where she majored in business administration and American and English literature, and was also a graduate of Wood Secretarial School in New York City.
She was secretary to the director of Gaines Dog Food Division of General Foods, once located in Ridgefield; secretary to the president of the National Tax Equality Association, Washington, D.C. and secretary to the director of Loan Administration for Mortgage Bankers Association in Washington.
Here, she established and operated her own secretarial/bookkeeping service, catering to small businesses in Connecticut and New York. She eventually branched out into freelance writing assignments, which included editing and preparing for publication books, television and motion picture scripts and magazine articles for numerous authors and playwrights. She worked on episodes of Rod Serling’s “The Twilight Zone” and on the screen play of the motion picture “The Longest Day” with Ridgefielder Cornelius Ryan, its author. Other assignments were commissioned by Coca-Cola Company and Playboy Magazine.
Mrs. Calder lived on Cape Cod since moving to Chatham in 1969. She was an administrative assistant for the Town of Chatham from 1987 until her retirement in 2000, and performed various duties for the Office of the Shellfish Constable, the Assessor’s Department, the Executive Secretary, the Board of Selectman and most recently, the Permit Department.
Besides her husband, Mrs. Calder is survived by one son, John Kelly of Grafton, Mass; two daughters, Joan Kelly Eldredge of Harwich, Mass., and Mariah Kelly of Worcester, Mass.; seven granddaughters and four step-grandchildren.
Funeral services were Tuesday, Feb. 11, at the First United Methodist Church, Chatham. Burial was at Union Cemetery, Chatham.
Memorial donations may be made to Chatham Park Department, c/o Dan Tobin, Chatham Town Hall, 549 Main Street, Chatham. MA 02633.