About Kiely
During my first week in Mrs. Wallace’s third grade class at McKinley Elementary, everyone had to create a poster about what we wanted to be when we grew up. In the middle of my blue construction paper, I carefully wrote professional tennis player and author and drew small books and tennis racquets around the border of the page. One summer of park & rec tennis did not ultimately lead to a career in professional sports. But for as long as I can remember, I have used words to make sense of the world. More than 30 years later, I am working to make that third-grade author dream a reality by writing a memoir about my mother’s death (in 2014) and my near-death experience (in 2017).
I grew up in Billings, Montana, as an uncoordinated, but determined kid who was often voted Most Improved Player (but never MVP). Eventually, after many years of practice, I became a decent athlete. Maintaining my most improved streak, I still love to learn new skills and try new things. During the past several years, I have learned to play the piano, taken voice lessons for the first time, tried cross country skiing, become a backyard chicken owner, taken up beekeeping, and learned to swim freestyle so I could complete my first triathlon.
I began dancing hula when I spent a semester at the University of Hawai’i at Hilo taking Native Hawaiian Studies classes and connecting with the Hawaiian side of my family. (My Irish Hawaiian grandmother (my mom’s mom) grew up in Waialua, on the North Shore of O‘ahu and moved to Montana for college–where my mother and I were both born). Since 2005, I have danced hula in Minnesota. For the past ten years, I have danced with Kaleiokapilialoha, a halau (hula school) in the Twin Cities.
I currently work as a hospice chaplain–being present with people and their loved ones as they face a life-limiting illness. Part of my chaplaincy training involved spending one day a week at a high security men’s prison. Working alongside incarcerated people and being present with dying people has given me a front row seat to witness the ways people make meaning and work toward healing and forgiveness, even in the most difficult circumstances.
Much of my free time is spent snuggling and/or wrangling my two young children, our dog, ten chickens, and thousands of bees. I am also a hack gardener who loves to can and freeze, and expand our strawberry beds as often as reasonably possible.
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Kiely is a writer and facilitator who has spent her career working with congregations and nonprofit organizations. She believes in the power of stories and recognizing the sacred in everyday life. Baking bread and hanging laundry on the line are two of her favorite activities.
Kiely is a graduate of Macalester College in St. Paul, MN. She earned a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota and a Master’s Degree in Religion and Theology at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities.
Kiely is a hospice chaplain. She often facilitates conversations and retreats about bridging organizational mission and everyday practices, the spiritual and the mundane. She also works with people as a writing coach and editor. She lives in Minnesota (on land that was first loved and stewarded by the Dakota people) with her spouse, two children, one dog, ten chickens, and a large number of bees.