January 18, 1964 – April 13, 2025

Kelli Anne Hawthorne Cannon, age 61, of Cleveland Heights, passed away on Sunday April 13, 2025 at home after an 8 year battle with cancer. Born in Madison Wisconsin, then raised in Shaker Heights and Kent, Ohio, she graduated from Kent Roosevelt High School and spent a summer in Turkey as an AFS exchange student. She attended Kent State University where she received her Bachelors degree in International Political Science and Masters degree in
Education. She also attended the Methodist Theological School and received a Masters degree in Theology and Counseling.

Kelli loved history and worked for many years at the Ohio Historical Society in Columbus, Ohio and then became the Site Manager for the President Warren G. Harding Home in Marion, Ohio. She also served as Associate Pastor of Prospect Street Church and taught World Religions as Adjunct Professor for the Methodist Theological School in Delaware, Ohio and Franklin University. She then managed a Cokesbury Bookstore in Columbus, Ohio for many years before taking a position in Sunday School Curriculum at United Methodist Publishing in Nashville, Tennessee.

Kelli enjoyed a cup of coffee with a flavored creamer any time of the day and was always up for trying new flavors. She loved to spend hours in the garden, reading a good book, or quilting and crocheting blankets for everyone she knew and loved. Kelli was also the family historian. She devoted many hours to researching her family’s genealogy and had created an amazing family tree to show for it.

Kelli was the mother of Kami Gagni (Steven Taylor) and Kya Knorr. She adopted her nephews, Calvin and Shaun Gagni with her ex-husband Dr. Sig Gagni. Two of her grandsons, Carson Gagni (Allison Main) and Quinton Carico, and three of her grandchildren, Audri, Ella, and Rosie were involved in her life and she loved them very much.

She is also survived by her mother Anne Hawthorne, siblings Krista Hawthorne (Larry Sollisch), David Hawthorne, and Kathy Heiser, nieces Alexa and Simone Sollisch and nephews Andy and Nick Hawthorne. She was preceded in death by her father Dr. Richard Hawthorne, sister Kara Lisa Hawthorne, and ex-husband Dr. Sig Gagni.

The family will hold a private memorial. In lieu of flowers, you can honor Kelli by supporting your local bookstore or making a donation to Hospice of the Western Reserve.