Seniors Ace ABCs in Charity Spelling Bee

In 1925, a 10-year-old named Paul Kelly stood before a cheering crowd for the country’s first national spelling bee, losing the contest after slipping up on a fancy word for scoundrel.

Seventy-four years later, Paul Kelly stood before a cheering hometown crowd and proved that, at 84, he really does know his ABCs.

In a charity spelling bee between teams of doctors, consultants and booksellers, it was a trio of seniors--average age 82--who won bragging rights.

Fifty-three teams of three members each competed in the Feb. 3 fund-raiser for the Duxbury Education Foundation.

The team from the Village at Duxbury, a retirement community in this town on Boston’s South Shore, had practiced their spelling for about two hours a day before the competition at the local middle school.

Kelly and his teammates--Delia Briggs and Mary Ennis--had been the top three spellers in a preliminary round held at the retirement home, winning the right to head to the competition with the $300 team entry fee.

In the charity spelling contest, the teams could confer for 20 seconds before writing their answer for the judges.

That method, Kelly said, was a lifesaver--and a far cry from the 1925 competition when the self-described nerdy boy from New Haven, Conn., stood solo and missed “blackguard”--a contemptible person or scoundrel.