Tributes are paid to ex-mayor
TRIBUTES have been paid following the death of a former Mayor of Hartlepool and primary school teacher who has died at the age of 83.
Margaret Kellman served as the town’s mayor in 1989-90 and sat on a number of council committees after becoming a councillor in 1976, representing the Jackson Ward.
Mrs Kellman, a mum of nine, was a teacher for 20 years at Sacred Heart, Golden Flatts and Lynnfield primary schools in the town and was a governor at Lynnfield and English Martyrs schools.
And her life story is all the more remarkable because she was told by medics that she had a leaking heart valve and would never bear children or live past her 20s after suffering with diphtheria as a youngster.
Margaret, who has 16 grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren, was involved in a string of charities including WRVS, Shelter, and the Women’s Aid Group.
She was also a treasurer for two youth club management groups, a Friend of Thornhill Special School, chairwoman of the Victim Support Management committee, a member of the Citizens’ Advice Bureau and a volunteer with Hartlepool Samaritans.
On the council she was chairwoman of the environmental health committee for eight years, chairwoman of the Cleveland Pollution group for three years, served on the libraries and museums committee, the planning committee, the industrial development committee, the housing committee, the engineering committee and was hugely instrumental in developing the town twinning committee, on which she also served as chairwoman.
On Cleveland County Council she was chairwoman of the Cleveland pollution group for three years and added her services to the North Regional Home Safety Committee and the Tees & Hartlepool Port Health Authority.
He daughter, also called Margaret, said: “She balanced a large family, a 20 year teaching career and an exhausting collection of local and regional government commitments.
“Her drive and energy were limitless and have left us all exhausted in her trail.
“All this for a woman who had a leaking heart valve who was told by doctors she would never bear a child or live past 20.”
Councillor Carl Richardson, a fellow Labour councillor, who served with Mrs Kellman, said: “I knew Peggy very well and she worked hard for the residents of the then Jackson ward.
“Peggy was a person who always spoke her mind and was passionate about Hartlepool and its people, and was closely associated with Hartlepool’s twinning with Huckelhoven, in Germany.
“My thoughts are with her family at this very sad time.”
Margaret, who met future husband Paul at a dance during the Second World War, left Hartlepool in 2001 and moved to Chesterfield, in Derbyshire.
She died on March 10 in Chesterfield and her funeral is to take place on Wednesday, March 27, while the family asks for donations in lieu of flowers to http://www.justgiving.com/Peggy-Kellman
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Weather for Hartlepool
Wednesday 22 May 2013
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