{"id":395562,"date":"2026-07-12T11:27:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T11:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/395562\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T11:27:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T11:27:11","slug":"democratic-activist-hene-kelly-has-crusaded-for-50-years-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/395562\/","title":{"rendered":"Democratic activist Hene Kelly has crusaded for 50+ years | Politics"},"content":{"rendered":"

During recent hearings over proposed budget cuts<\/a> at San Francisco City Hall, a diminutive 84-year old woman dressed as Dorothy from \u201cThe Wizard of Oz\u201d \u2014 wearing a wig with pigtails, a print dress, and red shoes and socks \u2014 conspicuously lobbied elected officials, in particular to protect services for elderly and disabled people.<\/p>\n

The octogenarian advocate, who was accompanied by compatriots costumed as Dorothy\u2019s companions the Tin Man, Scarecrow and Lion, is well known in The City\u2019s corridors of power as Hene Kelly, a former teacher who has been a local union and Democratic Party activist for more than 50 years.<\/p>\n

Her troupe urged city officials to use their hearts, brains and courage \u2014 each of which Dorothy\u2019s fellow travelers hoped to receive from the mythical Wizard of Oz.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes that kind of fun gets people to vote your way, and that is exactly what I try to do,\u201d Kelly said of the theatrics.<\/p>\n

The \u201cWizard of Oz\u201d conceit is one of several involving costumes that Kelly and friends have used at demonstrations in the past, she said.<\/p>\n

Jokes aside, Kelly is \u201ca feisty and outspoken advocate,\u201d said Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman, who said he has known Kelly for about 20 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cHene is someone you want to have on your side,\u201d he said. \u201cYou don\u2019t want to have her against you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mandelman said Kelly “does a pretty good job of being collegial,” even when she disagrees with people.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve enjoyed her very much,\u201d he said. \u201cShe is funny.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anya Worley-Ziegmann, coalition coordinator at the People\u2019s Budget Coalition \u2014 which organized recent budget demonstrations that included Kelly \u2014 said Kelly went to all 11 supervisors\u2019 offices and gave tailored pitches at each stop.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s an utter inspiration,\u201d said Worley-Ziegmann, whose coalition claims more than 150 member organizations, including nonprofits, community groups and labor unions.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs Dorothy, she wasn\u2019t just reciting a script \u2014 she walked to each of the supervisors\u2019 offices and gave them each an individual speech based on what that office needed to hear,\u201d Worley-Ziegmann said. \u201cIt was just amazing, and I\u2019ve been so honored to work alongside a San Francisco icon like her.\u201d<\/p>\n

A mother of two adult children and grandmother of triplets, the sometimes salty-tongued Kelly said in an interview at a cafe near her Richmond-district home that she has been outspoken since she was a youth.<\/p>\n

\"Supervisor<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Supervisor Connie Chan speaks at her reelection victory celebration at City Hall in November 2024, flanked by Hene Kelly (right) and Kelly\u2019s daughter in-law Wendy Aragon.<\/p>\n

Craig Lee\/The Examiner<\/p>\n

She wore a button supporting Supervisor Connie Chan\u2019s run for Congress and another showing her own bruised face \u2014\u00a0injuries she suffered when she accidentally fell down \u2014 above the words \u201cHene Kelly Fights for You.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelly was born in San Antonio, but she also spent time growing up in Chicago and Birmingham, Ala. She credited her father, an Orthodox rabbi, with setting an example for her through actions such as giving Black parishioners a place to worship when their Birmingham church burned down, even though members of his own congregation were not pleased. He left that position after the temple bought out his contract, she said.<\/p>\n

Kelly said her father urged her to never cross a picket line \u2014 join it instead, he said \u2014 and vote Democratic.<\/p>\n

In high school in Birmingham, Kelly said, she clashed with a civics teacher who used racist language in class concerning a Black woman.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018You are prejudiced. This is wrong,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Kelly said the teacher ordered her to leave the room, and she replied, \u201cI will get out of this room \u2014 I never want to have the stench of your bigotry anywhere near me,\u201d and walked out.<\/p>\n

Kelly said she went around town putting makeshift \u201cout of order\u201d signs at facilities such as water fountains that at the time were reserved for white people only.<\/p>\n

In order for Kelly to graduate high school, her parents sent her on a plane to Santa Clara, where she lived with an aunt and attended a local public school. For college, she went back to the Windy City, where she attended the University of Chicago.<\/p>\n

There, Kelly became increasingly politically active. At the age of 18, she went campaign door-knocking for the first time to support John F. Kennedy when he was running for president in 1960.<\/p>\n

Kelly said she became friends with and briefly dated Bernie Sanders, now a progressive independent U.S. senator representing Vermont. She said she supported Sanders and others when they occupied the university\u2019s administrative offices in 1962 to demand desegregation of some off-campus housing owned by the university.<\/p>\n

Kelly said she didn\u2019t stay overnight with the protesters because she worried that she might lose her place in her dormitory, which had a curfew. Instead, she baked challah to sell to get money to buy food for the protesters.<\/p>\n

Challenged by a party official about how to replace the money that would be lost by excluding such companies, Kelly replied that she would sell challahs to raise funds<\/a>, and for a time she did, sometimes for hundreds of dollars a loaf.<\/p>\n

Former Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin said that Kelly has the stomach when others don\u2019t to stand up and “call bulls—.”<\/p>\n

“She is a unique, outspoken, and wonderful character,” said Peskin, who said he\u2019s known Kelly for about 25 years through Democratic Party politics and having served with her on the local party central committee together at various times.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s kind of a cross between a loving Jewish mother and a military commander, and is hilarious and fearless,\u201d Peskin said.<\/p>\n

Kelly is \u201cat the stage of life where people should be taking care of her, but instead she\u2019s taking care of everybody else, and she\u2019s just been a relentless fighter for working people and the little guy all her life,\u201d Peskin said.<\/p>\n

Kelly said that while she was in college, her mother died at age 50 from an embolism. She said her father told her it was her mother\u2019s dream that she be a teacher.<\/p>\n

Kelly harbored her own dreams of becoming a comedian, she said. After graduating from college, she worked for a time at the Second City comedy venue, which offered occasional moments on stage. But she did become a teacher, and she taught in Chicago public schools for three years.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n \"New
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From Crissy Field to Fort Funston, the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy is encouraging outdoor exploration by foot and bicycle<\/p>\n

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\n \"Muni
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Agency expects a summer of large high-profile events to continue boosting activity as residents turn to transit for leisure, not work<\/p>\n

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\n \"Where
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It\u2019s a quirk of The City that what should be our warmest months can often be cold and dreary, but those looking for a bit of summer might find it at some SF bars<\/p>\n

She also remained politically active. After Martin Luther King Jr. and his family moved into a Chicago slum<\/a> in 1966, Kelly said, she walked with the civil-rights leader to confront discrimination. She spoke of people throwing things at her, spitting on her and insulting her.<\/p>\n

In February 1968, the Chicago weather convinced Kelly that it was time to leave.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a horrendous snowstorm, and I just said I can\u2019t take it anymore,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cSummers are too damn hot, winters are too damn cold.\u201d<\/p>\n

She moved to San Francisco, and she was teaching in city schools not long after.<\/p>\n

While taking a class to get her teaching credential, Kelly said, she met her husband-to-be, Dennis Kelly, who was also studying to be a teacher. He took her to the San Francisco Symphony for their first date. Seiji Osawa was conducting a program that included Hector Berlioz.<\/p>\n

Dennis Kelly converted to Orthodox Judaism in order to marry her. To this day, she has season tickets to the symphony.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a wonderful marriage,\u201d Hene Kelly said.<\/p>\n

Dennis Kelly, who became a celebrated teacher and union leader, died in 2024.<\/p>\n

Hene Kelly taught English, family life and Holocaust classes to high-school students and was a building representative for her union, she said.<\/p>\n

She recalled with a twinkle how she used to teach sex-education classes using cucumbers to demonstrate the proper use of condoms, but she said earnestly that the effort resulted in fewer high-school pregnancies.<\/p>\n

“You can\u2019t use bananas,\u201d Kelly said \u2014 they don\u2019t hold up through five classes in a day.<\/p>\n

She and her husband were very active in labor-union affairs. Dennis Kelly was elected president of the Union of Educators of San Francisco in 2003 and held the position for 12 years.<\/p>\n

Hene Kelly was one of the speakers at a May 15 rally outside City Hall in support of Chan\u2019s congressional bid and Proposition D, an unsuccessful union-backed June ballot measure that sought to raise San Francisco\u2019s Overpaid Executive Tax, which is imposed on companies at which executives are paid 100 times or more than the median earned by employees in The City.<\/p>\n

Chan paid tribute to Dennis Kelly as a \u201clabor giant\u201d and called Hene Kelly his \u201cbetter half.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelly went to the lectern and made some remarks before launching into a version of an old call-and-response union song, thumping her chest as the crowd repeated after her:<\/p>\n

Kelly retired in 2004 from the San Francisco Unified School District after nearly 35 years of teaching. She has held multiple long-running positions with political, advocacy and union organizations since then.<\/p>\n

She is the elected Region 7 director for the California Democratic Party, a role in which she is a conduit for information between the state party and local entities in San Mateo, Santa Clara and San Francisco counties. She said she\u2019s not planning to run again for the position.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m gonna get a young woman or young man that is as stupid as I am to do that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Among other positions, Kelly has also been longtime chair of the legislative leadership team for the California Alliance for Retired Americans, advocating for seniors and people with disabilities.<\/p>\n

She said she is giving up the position because it is too demanding given her age, though she plans to remain a member of the organization\u2019s legislative committee.<\/p>\n

She has also repeatedly served on the SF Democratic County Central Committee. She ran for another term in March of 2024 but lost when a relatively moderate slate of candidates won a majority.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always said San Francisco cannot be bought,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s been bought.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelly has been an adept organizer, said Mike Casey, president of the San Francisco Labor Council and former president of Unite Here Local 2, the union that represents hospitality workers such as those in hotels and restaurants.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether it\u2019s calling people up or making sure that they\u2019re comfortable on the bus, or making sure that the bus driver gets in the right place at the right time, she crosses all those lines,\u201d Casey said. \u201cShe\u2019s done it for decades, literally decades.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelly said that this fall, she\u2019s planning to travel to Georgia to campaign for Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, as she previously did in that state for Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll be my last walk,\u201d Kelly said.<\/p>\n

But she said she plans to stay politically active as long as she can.<\/p>\n

\u201cI might not walk, I might not call \u2014 but I will be there yelling, and I will be there at everything I can, and training people how to do it,\u201d Kelly said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"During recent hearings over proposed budget cuts at San Francisco City Hall, a diminutive 84-year old woman dressed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":395563,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[20500,159051,159050,159052,21973,101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-395562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-aaron-peskin","tag-anya-worley-ziegmann","tag-hene-kelly","tag-mike-casey","tag-rafael-mandelman","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=395562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/395563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=395562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=395562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=395562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}