Jody Kelly, who at 71 in 2010 competed in the 16th season of CBS’ The Amazing Race along with her 22-year-old granddaughter Shannon, died Sept. 5 in Bemidji, Minnesota, where she was attending a Spanish language immersion camp. She was 85.
A resident of Austin, Texas, her death was reported by the Austin American-Statesman. The paper reported that Kelly died suddenly but peacefully.
Josephine “Jody” Kelly was born on January 21, 1938 in Opelika, Alabama, and was raised in Gainesville, Florida, with one year in Wiesbaden, Germany at the end of World War II. After earning a Ph.D. in English Literature from Duke University in 1974, Kelly taught English at the University of Louisiana for sixteen years. She would later teach computer science, work as a technical writer and develop an interest in health-related topics and lifestyles, publishing such books as Feeling Good: Strength Training with Your Significant Elder. She wrote two dozen sports- and health-related articles for Austin Fit Magazine, according to the American-Statesman.
After retiring, Kelly continued her interest in health, strength training, and triathlons, and in 2010 participated The Amazing Race. She teamed with her granddaughter Shannon Foster (there made it to the second elimination round).
After The Amazing Race, Kelly started the business StrengthMobile, providing physical training for the elderly, and in her 70s became a world-class athlete, competing in triathlon, aquathlon, and duathlon. She represented Team USA at Worlds in Budapest (2010), London (2013), Cozumel (2016), and Pontevedra, Spain (2019). She survived breast cancer in 2018, and then joined Paddles with a Purpose, the breast cancer survivor boat team.
Kelly is preceded in death by parents Bruce William Kelly and Faye Lucius Kelly, and is survived by children Kate Leith, Kelly Foster, Christy Izmirian (Doug), and Bruce Moore (Jayne), eleven grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, and brother Bill and his wife Lynda.
