PAT KELLY
By Beronda Popesili
(Philippine Journal of Philately, Nov-Dec 1952)
That women don't take a back seat nowadays is attested not only in
the business world but also in the world of philately. Believing in
this wise, we are happy to introduce Mrs. Pat Kelly, one of the
“most popular philatelettes in the stamp circles of Metropolitan
Manila”.
“Pat” "as Mrs. Pat Kelly is popularly known in local stamp circles,
was in 1941, president of the Philippine Philatelic Club, one of the
national stamp organizations today. Too, she was one of its
organizers. And in the early days of the PPC, she did serve as its
secretary.
Starting her stamp collecting in 1937, Pat has been continuously
active in the hobby as well as in stamp organizations.
At present, she is president of the Tarlac Philatelic Club,
Tarlac, Tarlac, which she helped organize. And the cur rent year is
her second term as president of the TPC.
Pat counts membership not only with the PPC and TPC, but also with
the AFF (Asociacion Filatelica de Filipinas). She was also a member
of the Philippine Philatelic Writers Club, a prewar organization in
Manila, of which she was one of the organizers.
A
trenchant writer with a breeze style, Pat began writing for the
local philatelic press in 1940, on some occasions under the
pseudonym of "Alessandra Smith." She contributed articles for the
Elizalde Stamp Journal, a slick magazine published in Manila by the
Elizalde Stamp Club prior to World War II. Likewise, she contributed
articles for the Mayon Stamp Digest, the first official organ of the
PPC. And, in 1941, she was editor of the MSD. After World War II,
she wrote for the Philippine Philatelist, the then postwar official
publication of the PPC. Later on, she joined its editorial staff as
managing editor.
Pat's favorite hobby is stamp collecting.
Prior to the last World War,
she was specializing on the stamps and first day (covers) of the
Philippines and of China as well. At
present, however, she concentrates on a specialized collection of
purple stamps of the world, purple being her pet color.
Strange as it may seem, stamp collecting has played a big romance in
the life of Pat. It is within this hobby that she met another stamp
collector, a young man by the name of James Kelly.
It was a meeting that
blossomed romance culminating into love. Consequently, after knowing
each other for about two years, in 1943 Pat and Jimmy got married.
It was marriage that joined two stamp collectors together. And, as a
stamp collector who married another stamp collector, Pat was teased
by her friends as "graduating from stamp collecting to collecting
stamp collectors".
One year after their marriage, Pat and Jimmy had a "new issue".
It was a baby girl named
after Pat. Pat Jr. is now 8 years old. She delights in attending
club meetings of the TPC with her mother, the reason being, little
Pat loves the Chinese meal and double-deck ice cream.
Pat and! Jimmy, however, didn't enjoy the blessings of a long
married life. By a sad stroke of fate, Jimmy contracted a long
illness, and after one year, he died.
That was a big blow to Pat. And
Pat was left a flat widow.
Pat Kelly, was born Patrocinio Yapcinco, at Loay, Bohol, on March
13, 1915. Educated in the private schools in Manila, she graduated
at the University of Santo Tomas with the degree of Associate in
Arts. Wishing to be a lawyer, she studied law at the same "U". After
two years, however, she changed her mind and took up secretarial
training. Having graduated from secretarial course and, fresh from
college, she joined the Land Survey & Registration Co., Manila, as
executive secretary. After a couple, of years with the LSR Co., she
resigned and in 1940 she joined the Manila Tribune.
She was heading then for a
newspaper career. But the Japanese Occupation came, and she resigned
from the Tribune.
Because of her experience in the writing game, Pat is actually
employed as a research analyst at the USIS (United States
Information Service) in Manila. She is at present writing a series
of articles based on the importance of stamps as weapons in
psychological warfare, or as a medium for education and information.
In addition to her job
at the USIS, Pat does some "free lancing," by dabbling for the
Tarlac Jaycee Newspaper as guest columnist.
Vivacious and winsome, Mrs. Pat Kelly is a popular figure in Manila
stamp circles. Always a good sport who takes an honest joke on the
chin, she is dubbed by the author of
POSTSCRAPARIUM in this issue of the PJP as "the merry widow
who is always merry like a glass of champagne"
.
(Note:
The author’s
name, Beronda Pompesili, is a pseudonym of Pablo Esperidion)
