Carl Ellan Kelley belonged to one of America’s most famous musical families, but her own life looked very different. She was the half-sister of Aretha Franklin, the singer the world came to know as the Queen of Soul. While Aretha performed for millions, Carl Ellan lived mostly outside the spotlight. Her story also began under very difficult family circumstances. Over the years, many websites have added claims about her career, death, and burial place, but some of those claims do not match her own funeral-home record. That makes the real story of Carl Ellan Kelley both interesting and important to tell carefully.
Quick Bio of Carl Ellan Kelley
| Quick Bio | Details |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Carl Ellan Kelley |
| Name Also Written As | Carol Ellan Kelley / Carl Ellan Franklin Kelly |
| Known For | Half-sister of Aretha Franklin |
| Date of Birth | November 17, 1940 |
| Birthplace | Memphis, Tennessee |
| Father | Rev. C. L. Franklin |
| Mother | Mildred Jennings |
| Raised By | Her grandmother, Cornelious Mayo Hill Berry |
| Famous Half-Sister | Aretha Franklin |
| Children | Vivian Smith, Herman E. Wheatley III, Charles G. Smith |
| Date of Death | January 30, 2019 |
| Age at Death | 78 |
| Burial Place | Evergreen Washelli Cemetery in Seattle, according to her official obituary |
| Net Worth | Not publicly verified |
Carl Ellan’s official obituary gives her birth date, parents, grandmother, children, and planned burial place. It provides a stronger base than many newer biography pages that repeat details without showing where they came from.
Who Was Carl Ellan Kelley?
Carl Ellan Kelley was a daughter of famous Baptist preacher Clarence LaVaughn Franklin, better known as C. L. Franklin.
That made her a half-sister of Aretha Franklin.
Carl Ellan was born on November 17, 1940, in Memphis, Tennessee. Her funeral-home obituary confirms that Mildred Jennings was her mother and C. L. Franklin was her father.
Unlike Aretha, Erma Franklin, and Carolyn Franklin, Carl Ellan did not become known for a big music career.
Her name stayed mostly inside the Franklin family story.
That difference makes her life interesting.
One sister became one of the most famous singers of all time. Another sister lived a much quieter life that most music fans knew little about.
Is Her Name Carl Ellan Kelley or Carol Ellan Kelley?
Readers may see several versions of her name online.
Her funeral-home page uses Carl Ellan Kelley as its title. In the obituary text, her name appears as Carl Ellan Franklin Kelly.
A biography of C. L. Franklin uses Carol Ellan Kelley.
So why are there different spellings?
Old records, family names, married names, and later online copying can create small differences like this.
For SEO purposes, “Carl Ellan Kelley” has become a common search form. It is also the form used on her funeral-home memorial page.
It would be wrong, however, to pretend the spelling never varies.
The safest approach is to explain both forms.
When Was Carl Ellan Kelley Born?
Carl Ellan Kelley was born on November 17, 1940.
Her official obituary gives both the date and Memphis, Tennessee, as her birthplace.
A biography of her father gives the same date and says her birth happened while C. L. Franklin was serving at New Salem Baptist Church in Memphis.
This is one part of her biography where the stronger records agree.
She was born less than two years before Aretha Franklin, who arrived in March 1942.
That made Carl Ellan an older half-sister of the future Queen of Soul.
Who Was Carl Ellan Kelley’s Mother?
Carl Ellan Kelley’s mother was Mildred Jennings.
This part of the story needs sensitive and accurate wording.
Published biographical material about C. L. Franklin says Mildred was only 12 years old and belonged to his congregation when Carl Ellan was conceived.
That means she was a child.
The circumstances should not be softened into a normal adult romance.
At the same time, we should not invent details that the historical record does not clearly give.
What we can say is that Carl Ellan was born into a deeply troubling situation involving a young girl and an adult church leader.
Her later life should also not be reduced only to the circumstances of her birth.
Carl Ellan was her own person.
Who Raised Carl Ellan Kelley?
Carl Ellan did not grow up mainly in C. L. Franklin’s household.
Her obituary says her grandmother, Mrs. Cornelious Mayo Hill Berry, raised her.
That single fact helps explain why Carl Ellan’s childhood was different from Aretha’s.
Aretha grew up closely connected to C. L. Franklin’s church life and musical world.
Carl Ellan followed another path.
Some newer biography pages create long stories about what her childhood supposedly felt like.
Reliable records do not give us enough information to know all of those private feelings.
We know who raised her.
Beyond that, we should avoid creating scenes that nobody documented.
Who Was Carl Ellan Kelley’s Father?
Her father, C. L. Franklin, became one of the best-known Black preachers of his era.
He was famous for his powerful speaking voice and recorded sermons.
His church work also connected him with major figures in gospel music and the civil rights movement.
Most people today know him as Aretha Franklin’s father.
Yet his family history was complicated.
C. L. and Barbara Siggers Franklin had Erma, Cecil, Aretha, and Carolyn together. Barbara already had a son, Vaughn, whom C. L. adopted. Carl Ellan was C. L.’s daughter with Mildred Jennings.
So the Franklin family was larger and more complex than many simple family trees suggest.
How Was Carl Ellan Kelley Related to Aretha Franklin?
Carl Ellan Kelley and Aretha Franklin shared the same father.
Their mothers were different.
That makes them half-sisters.
Aretha’s mother was Barbara Siggers Franklin.
Carl Ellan’s mother was Mildred Jennings.
Major biographical records include Carl Ellan among C. L. Franklin’s children, and other profiles of Aretha also identify her as Aretha’s half-sister.
Still, they did not appear to share the same childhood home.
That is important.
Being related by blood does not always mean two people grow up side by side.
Was Carl Ellan Kelley Close to Aretha Franklin?
The exact day-to-day relationship between Carl Ellan and Aretha stayed mostly private.
There are few detailed interviews in which either woman explains their sisterly relationship.
However, one important fact became public after Aretha’s death.
Reporting on Aretha Franklin’s handwritten wills said one version set aside $50,000 for Carl Ellan Kelley.
That is useful evidence that Aretha recognized Carl Ellan as part of her family.
Still, money in a will cannot tell us everything about an emotional relationship.
We should not automatically turn the gift into claims that the sisters spoke every day or shared a very close private bond.
The honest answer is more balanced.
Aretha acknowledged Carl Ellan as family, but much about their personal relationship remained private.
Did Carl Ellan Kelley Become a Singer?
There is no strong evidence that Carl Ellan Kelley built a professional singing career.
That makes her different from several members of the Franklin family.
Aretha became an international star.
Erma Franklin also recorded music and became especially known for her original recording of “Piece of My Heart.”
Carolyn Franklin worked as a singer and songwriter.
Carl Ellan does not have a similar well-documented recording career.
Her connection to famous musicians came through family rather than her own public music work.
What Did Carl Ellan Kelley Do for a Living?
This is one area where many online articles need correction.
A large number of newer sites say Carl Ellan worked as a nurse.
However, her official funeral-home obituary does not list nursing as her career.
There is another interesting clue.
A person who left a remembrance on Carl Ellan’s official memorial page wrote that they met during Carl’s career at The Boeing Company.
That is a first-person memory, not an official employment record.
So we should still use careful wording.
The strongest public evidence does not support confidently describing her entire career as nursing.
It appears she worked at Boeing during at least part of her life, based on a friend’s memorial message.
More detailed career claims remain difficult to verify.
Did Carl Ellan Kelley Work at Boeing?
There is some evidence that she did.
On the tribute wall attached to her official funeral-home memorial, a woman named Glenda Barnes wrote that she and Carl met during Carl’s career at The Boeing Company.
She also said they became close friends and later reconnected.
That remembrance gives us something more personal than a copied biography page.
Still, it does not tell us Carl Ellan’s exact job title, department, or how many years she worked there.
For that reason, saying she “worked at Boeing at some point” is safer than inventing a detailed corporate career.
Did Carl Ellan Kelley Have Children?
Yes.
Carl Ellan Kelley’s official obituary provides clear information about her children.
It says her daughter Vivian Smith died before her.
The obituary also names two surviving children:
Herman E. Wheatley III and Charles G. Smith.
Carl Ellan also had grandchildren and at least one great-grandchild listed in the obituary.
Because most of those relatives are private people, there is no need to explore their personal lives further.
The important point is that Carl Ellan built a family of her own.
Her identity was therefore much bigger than simply “Aretha Franklin’s half-sister.”
Was Carl Ellan Kelley Married?
Public information about Carl Ellan Kelley’s marriage history is limited.
Her surname “Kelley” shows that a married or family name became part of her public identity.
However, her funeral-home obituary does not clearly give a husband’s name.
Some smaller websites try to fill that gap.
They may give relationship details without providing a strong source.
That is exactly the kind of information a trustworthy biography should avoid guessing.
We know Carl Ellan had children.
Her full marriage history, however, is not clearly documented in major reliable sources.
How Many Siblings Did Carl Ellan Kelley Have?
Carl Ellan belonged to a large and complicated family.
Her official obituary names several siblings who died before her, including Aretha Franklin, Rev. Cecil Franklin, Erma Franklin, Carolyn Franklin, Clark E. Turner, and Charles E. Jennings.
Other family biographies also discuss Vaughn Franklin.
The relationships are not all identical.
Some were half-siblings.
Vaughn, for example, was Barbara Franklin’s son from an earlier relationship. C. L. Franklin later adopted him.
This is why simple online lists can become confusing.
The safest description is that Carl Ellan belonged to the wider Franklin family and shared C. L. Franklin as a biological father with Aretha, Erma, Cecil, and Carolyn.
Did Carl Ellan Kelley Live in the Shadow of Aretha Franklin?
It may look that way from the outside.
Aretha Franklin became one of the most famous voices in American music.
Carl Ellan remained almost unknown to the general public.
But “living in someone’s shadow” can suggest that Carl wanted fame and failed to get it.
We do not know that.
There is no strong public evidence showing that she wanted a recording career or celebrity attention.
A better way to describe her life is simple.
Carl Ellan followed a private path while several members of her father’s family became known through music and church work.
That is different from saying fame was taken away from her.
How Old Was Carl Ellan Kelley When She Died?
Carl Ellan Kelley was 78 years old when she died.
Her birth date was November 17, 1940.
Her death date was January 30, 2019.
She died only a few months after Aretha Franklin.
Aretha died on August 16, 2018, at age 76.
That means the Franklin family lost both sisters within less than six months.
Carl Ellan’s death received far less media attention.
That difference reflects how private her life had been.
What Was Carl Ellan Kelley’s Cause of Death?
This is one place where readers should be very careful.
Many newer biography websites say Carl Ellan died from a heart attack or complications from heart disease.
Her official funeral-home obituary does not give a cause of death.
Because of that, it is not safe to present a heart attack as a confirmed fact.
The most reliable answer is:
Carl Ellan Kelley died on January 30, 2019, at age 78, but her official obituary does not state the cause of death.
That answer may be shorter than what other websites publish.
But it is more accurate.
Where Was Carl Ellan Kelley Buried?
This is one of the biggest factual problems found in articles about her.
Many websites claim she was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Detroit, where several Franklin family members are buried.
However, her official obituary says something different.
It states that Carl Ellan would later be laid to rest at Evergreen Washelli Cemetery in Seattle, Washington.
That is a major difference.
When a funeral-home obituary and a random biography site disagree about burial plans, the funeral-home record deserves much more weight.
So unless another strong cemetery record proves otherwise, Evergreen Washelli Cemetery is the better-supported answer.
Why Do So Many Websites Say Woodlawn Cemetery?
The mistake is easy to understand.
Aretha Franklin and C. L. Franklin are strongly connected with Woodlawn Cemetery in Detroit.
A writer may therefore assume Carl Ellan was buried there too.
Another site copies that claim.
Soon, the same answer appears on many pages.
But repetition is not proof.
Carl Ellan’s own obituary specifically says Evergreen Washelli Cemetery in Seattle.
This is a good example of why original records matter when writing biographies.
What Was Carl Ellan Kelley’s Net Worth?
Carl Ellan Kelley does not have a reliable public net-worth figure.
You may find websites that guess how much money she had.
Those numbers lack strong financial proof.
Carl Ellan did not run a public company.
She did not have a large entertainment career with reported contracts.
Her private assets, savings, debts, and property were not made public in a way that allows a trustworthy net-worth calculation.
Aretha Franklin’s wealth cannot simply be used as Carl Ellan’s wealth either.
They were two different people with different lives.
So the accurate answer is that Carl Ellan Kelley’s net worth remains unknown.
Did Aretha Franklin Leave Money to Carl Ellan Kelley?
Yes, one of Aretha Franklin’s handwritten wills included Carl Ellan.
Reporting on the estate said the document provided a $50,000 gift for her half-sister.
This fact became especially interesting because Aretha’s estate later became the subject of a long legal dispute over handwritten wills.
The gift did not suddenly make Carl Ellan a public celebrity.
Instead, it gave the public one small look at how Aretha viewed her extended family.
Carl Ellan died in January 2019, only months after Aretha.
Was Carl Ellan Kelley Famous During Her Lifetime?
Not in the way Aretha was.
Most people did not know Carl Ellan’s name.
She did not release famous albums or spend years appearing on television.
Her public identity grew mainly because people became more interested in Aretha Franklin’s complete family history.
After Aretha’s death, books, estate stories, biographies, and family features brought more attention to the people around her.
That led readers to discover Carl Ellan.
In a strange way, her privacy became part of what makes people curious today.
Why Is Carl Ellan Kelley’s Story Important?
Her story adds another layer to the Franklin family history.
It reminds us that famous families are rarely as simple as a short biography makes them look.
C. L. Franklin was a famous preacher.
Aretha became a global star.
Erma and Carolyn had music careers.
Yet Carl Ellan started life under painful circumstances and grew up separately with her grandmother.
She later had children and lived much more privately.
Her life also shows why writers should be careful with family stories.
Some facts are well documented.
Others become myths after websites copy them again and again.
Carl Ellan deserves an article based on evidence rather than guesses.
What Facts About Carl Ellan Kelley Are Often Wrong Online?
Several claims need extra care.
The first is her name. Both “Carl” and “Carol” appear in public records.
Another common claim says she worked as a nurse. Her official obituary does not confirm that career, while a friend’s tribute places her at Boeing during at least part of her working life.
The cause of death is also often listed as a heart attack. Her official obituary gives no cause.
Finally, many pages say Woodlawn Cemetery was her burial place.
Her funeral-home obituary instead says Evergreen Washelli Cemetery in Seattle.
These differences matter.
A good biography should correct weak claims instead of repeating them.
Final Thoughts
Carl Ellan Kelley lived a much quieter life than her famous half-sister Aretha Franklin.
She was born on November 17, 1940, in Memphis, Tennessee, to Mildred Jennings and Rev. C. L. Franklin. Her grandmother, Cornelious Mayo Hill Berry, raised her.
Her beginning was difficult.
Mildred Jennings was only 12 years old, making the circumstances surrounding Carl Ellan’s birth deeply troubling.
Still, Carl Ellan’s whole life should not be defined by that beginning.
She became a mother and grandmother. A friend remembered working with her at Boeing. Her family obituary shows that she had a life and relationships far beyond the famous Franklin name.
Aretha also remembered her half-sister in one of her handwritten wills, setting aside $50,000 for her.
Carl Ellan died on January 30, 2019, at age 78.
Her story may never be as famous as Aretha’s.
Yet telling it accurately matters.
Sometimes the quieter member of a famous family can teach us the biggest lesson about biography: not every empty space needs a guess.
FAQs About Carl Ellan Kelley
Who was Carl Ellan Kelley?
Carl Ellan Kelley was the daughter of Rev. C. L. Franklin and Mildred Jennings. She was the half-sister of Aretha Franklin.
Was Carl Ellan Kelley Aretha Franklin’s biological sister?
They were biological half-sisters. They shared the same father, C. L. Franklin, but had different mothers.
When was Carl Ellan Kelley born?
She was born on November 17, 1940, in Memphis, Tennessee.
Who was Carl Ellan Kelley’s mother?
Her mother was Mildred Jennings.
How old was Carl Ellan Kelley’s mother when she had her?
Historical accounts say Mildred Jennings was 12 years old. She was a member of C. L. Franklin’s congregation.
Who raised Carl Ellan Kelley?
Her official obituary says her grandmother, Cornelious Mayo Hill Berry, raised her.
Is the correct name Carl Ellan Kelley or Carol Ellan Kelley?
Both forms appear in public sources. Her funeral-home memorial uses Carl Ellan Kelley, while a biography of C. L. Franklin uses Carol Ellan Kelley.
What did Carl Ellan Kelley do for a living?
Her full career is not firmly documented. Many sites call her a nurse, but her official obituary does not confirm this. A friend’s memorial message says they met during Carl’s career at The Boeing Company.
Did Carl Ellan Kelley have children?
Yes. Her obituary names daughter Vivian Smith and sons Herman E. Wheatley III and Charles G. Smith. Vivian died before her.
Did Aretha Franklin leave Carl Ellan Kelley money?
One of Aretha Franklin’s handwritten wills reportedly provided $50,000 for Carl Ellan Kelley.
When did Carl Ellan Kelley die?
She died on January 30, 2019, at age 78.
What was Carl Ellan Kelley’s cause of death?
Her official obituary does not state a cause. Claims that she died from a heart attack appear on secondary websites, so they should not be treated as firmly confirmed.
Where was Carl Ellan Kelley buried?
Her official obituary says she would be laid to rest at Evergreen Washelli Cemetery in Seattle, Washington. This conflicts with several websites that claim Woodlawn Cemetery in Detroit.
What was Carl Ellan Kelley’s net worth?
No trustworthy public record confirms her personal net worth. Exact figures found on celebrity biography websites should be treated as guesses.
Was Carl Ellan Kelley a singer?
There is no reliable record of Carl Ellan building a professional singing career like her half-sisters Aretha, Erma, and Carolyn.
Why is Carl Ellan Kelley famous?
People mainly know Carl Ellan Kelley because she was C. L. Franklin’s daughter and Aretha Franklin’s half-sister. Her private life has drawn more interest as readers learn about the larger Franklin family.
For more info, visit novra magazine