Denise Kelly Johnson, the longtime chief of the child support enforcement division of the state attorney’s office, died two weeks after suffering a stroke as she and co-workers prepared to leave the office to attend their scheduled investiture.
Kelly, 61, who had worked for the state attorney’s office for more than 22 years, oversaw and assisted the roughly two dozen attorneys assigned to work with thousands of parents who need help obtaining child support from a parent who has not met child support obligations. Friends and family said she was active in her church and volunteered with the Greater Miami chapter of the charity The Links, Incorporated—an international nonprofit made up of professional women of color committed to enriching and sustaining the culture and economic survival of African-Americans. They said she rarely took time off from work, and was “a mother hen” to the lawyers who worked with her.
