8/31/1956 – 5/31/2024
He spent his dash well!
Please help us celebrate his life:
Grump, grandpa, dad, husband, son, friend, and some titles best not put in print, passed away on Friday, May 31, 2024. We lost the best!
Kevin F. Kelly was born on August 31,1956 to Franklin and Delores Kelly, in Allegan, Michigan. Followed by brother Kenn and sister Karen.
Kevin was a farmer and loved living the life of a farmer. The only thing that meant more to him than his cows and the land was his family. He and his wife of 46 years, Terri (Klaassen Goodrich), were blessed with three children, KJ (Kevin Jr.), Jami, and Jessica and a host of kids of the heart. Their house, farm and hearts were always full of all the “kids” that made, and make up their family.
Kevin started his life as a farmer at a young age by helping his grandpa Wayne milking the cows on the Catalpa Jersey Farm, baling hay, and working the fields. He also farmed over the years working for Chestnut Farms and Petroshus Farms. In 1992 he made a switch that seemed to truly be perfect for him and went to work at Badger Evergreen until he retired in 2018. In addition to all this farming, after Kevin and Terri were married there was always at least a few cows to milk, calves to feed and hay to bale on his piece of paradise “Shady K Farms.” He never missed an Allegan County Fair whether showing his own Jerseys or helping his kids, grandkids, and many of those kids of the heart show cattle, pigs, and sheep.
He also found great joy in standing on the fence or sitting in the bleachers watching “HIS KIDS” play some sort of ball! He truly was Dad, Grandpa or Grump to just about every young person he came in contact with!
Kevin is survived by his wife Terri, his son KJ (Kevin Jr.) and wife Kristin Kelly, their children Matthew, Madelyn, and Jalen, his daughter Jami and husband Ryan Nagelkirk, their children Trenton (Delanie Dell), and Marissa, and daughter Jessica and husband Steve Green, their children Kyler and Ella and many “Children of the Heart” (there isn’t enough space on this page to list each of them, but they most definitely know who they are and he loved every DAMN one of you)! His mother Delores Kelly, brother Kenn Kelly, sister Karen, and husband Kent Colborn, his mother-in-law Shirley Brown, his father-in-law Ben Klaassen and mother-in-law Evelyn Klaassen, many nieces and nephews, and a multitude of friends. His caregiving team Melissa Gribble, Lori Hildenbrand, Jamie Thorpe, Traci Augustyniak and Shawn Seidel, to whom his family will forever be grateful. He was preceded in death by his father Franklin Kelly and his father-in-law Don Brown.
A Celebration of Life will be held on June 22nd, beginning at 3:00 pm, at Badger Tree Farm in Otsego. Please join us for a pig roast, refreshments (there will be Stroh’s) and sharing of the many, many great “Kevin stories!” In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Camp Kidwell, 39000 1st Avenue, Bloomingdale, MI 49026 or Wings of Hope Hospice, 530 Linn Street, Allegan, MI 49010.
Monday, September 16, 2024
