M. Shelley Hodupp

M. (Marie) Shelley Hodupp died Friday, October 9, 2026, following a brief illness. She was 84.

Shelley, as she was affectionately known to all who knew her, was a beloved wife, mother, aunt, sister and friend to so many whose lives she touched. The daughter of J. Jay and Jean (Cranston) Hodupp, Shelley was raised in Bryn Mawr, PA, and was graduated from The Shipley School, Bryn Mawr, PA and the Connecticut College for Women, New London, CT where she studied art history.

Shelley’s expertise and taste in art helped her throughout a long career that included renovating and managing the gift shop at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and authoring in 1977, The Shopper’s Guide to Museum Stores. She also spent many years with the National Trust for Historic Preservation in Washington, D.C. where she managed the gift shops for all the trust properties throughout the United States.  She returned to the Philadelphia area and began a long, successful run as a sales representative selling to gift shops and garden centers in a territory extending from the Poconos to the New Jersey shore.

Shelley’s eye for, and appreciation of art was on display throughout her home and extensive garden in West Chester, PA, before she retired to White Horse Village in Newtown Square, PA, in 2022. Shelley continued to garden on a smaller scale and quickly established new friendships throughout her new community. Never one to sit idle, the semi-retired Shelley also worked part-time for many years at RP Nurseries, a garden center in Kennett Square, PA. Otherwise she might have been found playing on her neighborhood bocce team, puzzling or taking walking excursions at home at White Horse Village or the Mayan Beach Club. Many will also remember her for her artfully adorned butterfly Christmas trees.

Shelley is survived by her husband, John M. Alden; sisters, Claire H. Irving and Ann H. DeCicco, brother-in-law Edward A. DeCicco; niece Amanda L. Albertson (Christopher); nephew Nicholas J. DeCicco, stepsons John M. Alden, Jr., and Douglas Alden and daughter-in-law Dawnangela Minton. She was preceded in death by brothers-in-law William C. Irving and Robert K. Alden and stepson William G. Alden.