Monica Kelly Kepnes, 77, of Centerville, passed away peacefully on August 7, 2025 in her home surrounded by her family. She is preceded in death by her husband, Harold Samuel Kepnes and her parents John Edward Kelly and Lorraine Kelly. Monica is survived by her daughter Caroline Kepnes and her son Alex Kepnes, her daughter-in-law Beth Hays Kepnes and her grandsons, Jonathan Kepnes and Joshua Kepnes. She is also survived by her siblings Dennis Kelly, Kathleen Kelly and June (Kelly) Hurme, six nephews and three nieces, all of whom she loved dearly.
Monica was born on March 11, 1948 in Rockville Center, New York, the third of four children. She attended Hempstead High School where she served as the Class Secretary and authored the 1965 class motto: “Strike out against injustice; Cry out for your belief; Ne’er remain stifled in the bleakness of defeat”. Monica went on to attend The Ohio State University where she studied education and history. She was active in campus politics and campaigned for Robert Kenendy. She also marched on Washington and enjoyed pushing the accelerator in her Pontiac GTO.
After graduation, Monica moved to Washington, DC, where she served on the United States Senate Committee on Aging from 1972 through 1973, and as a Research Assistant for the Office of Congressman Richard Fulton. She spent time in Cape Cod, and that’s where she met her soulmate, Harold Kepnes. They eloped in snowy Western Massachusetts on December 18, 1971. They were overjoyed when their son Alex was born in 1973 and soon moved their family to the Cape, where their daughter Caroline was born in 1976.
Monica was a profoundly maternal soul who loved being a mother. She read to her children, helped them with their homework, bounced in the waves at Craigville Beach with them. She drove them to baseball camp, theater camp, whatever their young Scorpio hearts desired. Friends loved coming to the Kepnes house for Monica’s famous lasagna and pan cookies, for the best hugs in the world. She cared for all the children in her orbit, and she took very good care of the family’s feisty cat Cookie. Monica was a Big Sister in the Big Brothers Big Sisters of America program. She and her husband had a furniture store called Convertibles Plus, a place that felt like a cozy, coffee-scented clubhouse. Monica handled interior design, copywriting and so much more. She had great style and compassion. She loved it when friends and family stopped by the store with their children. In her later years, she was a substitute teacher in local school systems. Nurturing children was in her DNA.
With her quick Irish wit and flair for the written word, Monica’s creative spark was undeniable. She loved singing along to the oldies with Harold and blasting music in the car. She appeared in the NBC miniseries KENNEDY and you can also spot her beloved GTO in The Exorcist. Monica counted Anna Karenina and East of Eden among her favorite books, and she was Caroline’s first reader. Monica weighed in with notes on everything Caroline wrote, including the New York Times bestselling You series. Monica loved tennis and was the first to coach Alex and Caroline. She was so proud of her family “I wish Dad was here to see!” was something she said a lot before counting her blessings and making a crack about staying alive, thus instilling a lifelong value of gratitude, humor and warmth in her children. She loved spending time with friends and family. Live music and dancefloors were always calling. Monica loved to visit Alex and his family in Louisville. She was always up for blackjack, candlepin bowling and mini golf. She savored trips to Hollywood to see Caroline and, of course, take lots of pictures.
Long before cameras were integrated into smart phones, Monica was a passionate photographer, taking hundreds of pictures and Super 8 videos of her family and friends. At her daughter’s graduation from Brown University, she snapped a picture of a feisty woman climbing the Van Wickle gates to get a better view of the action. Monica’s entry placed second in the Providence Journal Bulletin photography contest in 1999. She titled the photo “You Can’t Keep a Good Woman Down”. This is true. Monica loved to tell the story about the time she drove through a snowstorm to make it to a family wedding in Upstate New York.
Monica “MonKon” Kepnes was a brave, strong soul who kept her chin up while dealing with chronic health issues. She would always bounce back and walk out into the yard to plant flowers and rake leaves, listen to the wind in the trees and worry about every baby bunny who crossed her path. Monica loved.
There will be a Celebration of Life for Monica on Saturday, October 4, 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm, which will be held at Sam Diego’s. In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that donations be made to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Cape Cod & The Islands.