Joan Delia (Keats) Conley

She will always be Nana

July 29, 1947 – May 25, 2026

Joan Delia Conley, beloved wife, mother, Nana, and friend, passed away peacefully on May 25, 2026, in Falmouth, Massachusetts. She was 78 years old.

Born on July 29, 1947, in Chelsea, Massachusetts, Joan was the daughter of the late James and Evelyn (Sullivan) Keats. She grew up in Prattville, rooted in a multigenerational Chelsea family, and carried that community in her heart for the rest of her life. She graduated from Chelsea High School in 1965 and began her career with the telephone company as an information operator, a fitting start for a woman who always knew just what to say. Through dedication and quiet determination, she rose into management before retiring in 1992.

Joan was married to retired Chelsea Deputy Fire Chief Edward G. Conley Jr. for 57 years, a partnership built on love, laughter, and the mutual understanding that the best table in any restaurant is always at the bar.

Chelsea was Joan's home in every sense of the word. She grew up surrounded by aunts, uncles, cousins, neighbors, and friends who made the city feel like an extended family. She raised her four boys in that same community, built friendships that lasted decades, and never lost her deep affection for the city that formed her. In her later years she and her husband settled in North Falmouth, but Chelsea never really left her, nor did the memory of Little Squam Lake, a place she loved from childhood and shared with her children and grandchildren.

Joan was the family's matriarch in the truest sense, present through every holiday, hard time, celebration, and ordinary day, always steady and always glad to see you. She had a rare gift for making strangers feel welcome and making her family feel deeply loved. To her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, she was simply Nana.

Joan is survived by her devoted husband, Edward; her sons Ed and his wife Andrea of Gloucester, Sean of Marblehead, and Eric and his wife Melissa of Hampstead, NH; her brother James "Reggie" Keats and his partner Doris of Stoughton; her 15 cherished grandchildren, Caitlyn, Shannon, Eddie, Alex, Aidan, Max, Keira, Shea, Liam, Chloe, Chase, Jack, Nathan, Bella, and Ashlyn; and her three great-grandchildren, Emma, Johnny, and Carolyn.

She was predeceased by her parents; her son Scott and his late wife Elaine of Topsfield; and her sister Janice Woirol of Michigan.

FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS:  Relatives and friends are kindly invited to attend visiting hours in the Carafa Family Funeral Home, 389 Washington Ave., Chelsea on Thursday, June 4, 2026, from 4:00 – 8:00 P.M.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at Our Lady of Grace Church, 59 Nichols St. CHELSEA on Friday, June 5th at 11:00 A.M.  Services will conclude with interment at Woodlawn Cemetery in Everett.

DONATIONS: In lieu of flowers, donations in Joan's memory may be made to the Tunnels to Towers Foundation at t2t.org

We encourage family and friends to offer condolences by means of the online guest book or to send a personalized sympathy card.