My Dad's Obituary
John Patrick Kelley
June 8, 1944 – October 31, 2024
John Patrick (“Pat”) Kelley was born to Joseph and Juliette Kelley in Bluffton, IN on June 8, 1944. Pat was the second of two children; his older sister was Martha Ann.
Pat graduated from Central Catholic High School in downtown Fort Wayne on June 3, 1962, and boarded a bus to report for duty in the United States Navy the following morning—four days before his 18th birthday.
In the Navy, Pat went to school to become an electronics technician, before completing his maritime service on the USS Wrangell. The Wrangell operated off the eastern seaboard of the United States, with deployments in the Caribbean and Mediterranean seas.
Pat honorably completed his service to our country in 1965. Since his time in the Navy began when he was still seventeen, Pat’s tour was three years, rather than the typical four.
Upon returning to Fort Wayne, he found employment at Bowmar LLC, on Bluffton Road.
While Pat worked at Bowmar, the company launched the world’s first hand-held calculator, but the bigger news was that he made eye contact from across the office with his soon-to-be lifelong partner, Mary Ann Gulley.
Pat and Mary Ann fell in love, and married on December 28, 1968, before welcoming two sons to their modest ranch-style home on August Drive—Michael (1971) and Matthew (1974).
Also in 1968, Pat joined Magnavox, where he worked until his retirement in 2007. In that time, the firm went through several corporate name changes—from Magnavox, to Philips, to Raytheon. He and his colleagues eventually just referred to it as “The Company.”
As technology evolved, the drafting department where Pat worked—which once numbered several dozen—was slowly downsized. At the time of his retirement, he was the last remaining member of the team. A department of one.
Pat enjoyed good friendships and meaningful work over those four decades, including finding recurring success in the company’s pairs golf league with long-time partner Gene Voss.
Pat loved watching Indiana University basketball—a sign displayed in the family home said, “We interrupt this marriage for IU basketball season”—Notre Dame football, and PGA golf.
In retirement, he even marshaled at the PGA’s BMW Championship and U.S. Senior Open.
When Pat raised a paddle to quiet the gallery on the par 5 sixth, Freddie Couples thanked him with a nod, a wink and a smile.
Another time, Gary Player kindly asked Pat if he wouldn’t mind taking a couple steps back to create a bit more space in the tee box for the golfer to address the ball. Pat obliged, and spoke fondly and often of his conversation with the nine-time major winner.
Pat and Mary Ann raised several show-winning Half-Arabian horses at JimJac Arabian Farm on Till Road, including Du Sherran, Serajoy and Beaunej. For years, Pat spent every Sunday alongside his brother- and father-in-law at JimJac, where Pat’s responsibilities ranged from training and showing horses, to stacking hay and applying creosote to the fences he helped build.
No task was too small to do well.
In the driveway, his car was recently hand-washed and detailed.
On the page, his handwriting was crisp and meticulous.
Pat’s commitment to craft, his disciplined pursuit of a job well done, and his general observance of “the golden rule” in his way of working—along with a desire to have some fun with it—became the template for how his sons pursued their own careers.
Before that, Pat showed his boys how to run, catch, throw, swing, hit, shoot, climb, slide, ride, pedal, kick, race, jump and drive. He taught his sons there was more to be proud of in a solid batting average than a walk-off home run, and that there was more glory in a high percentage at the free-throw line than in a half-court buzzer-beater. He held a broom in the air so they didn’t have to guess the correct arch for a proper mid-range jump shot. He was never in a rush for them to leave the batting cage or the driving range. Only the setting sun could persuade them to call it a day.
Together, they built models, built computers, built cars and built friendships.
Sometimes, he’d gently break a traffic law—say, turning left on red, onto a two-way street—and when his wife would exclaim, “Pat! The boys are in the car. That’s illegal.” He’d innocently reply, “I’m pretty sure I saw in the newspaper that they’re about to change that law.”
Deep into a Thanksgiving night in the late-1980s, near the end of a large and competitive card game called Oh Heck!, Pat made a risky move toward victory and coined the phrase “reckless abandon.”
On July 6, 1952, he saw Hank Williams perform at Buck Lake Ranch in Angola, Indiana, where Hank sang “I’ll Fly Away.” On November 5, 2000, Pat saw Bob Dylan at the Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where Bob sang “I Shall Be Released.”
He taught one son how to fix almost anything, and the other how to speak in public.
He showed them how to be good dads.
Pat adored and took great care of the family’s four dogs, who were pretty much siblings to Mike and Matt: Oscar, Betsy, Daisy and Zoe.
Pat and Mary Ann loved traveling, with a special affection for Arizona. They loved Gatlinburg and Branson, Myrtle Beach and cruise ships. They wouldn’t decline an invitation to visit a casino, but whether in Las Vegas or on a day trip to Kalamazoo, they were there more for the spectacle of the lights, the sounds and the buffet than for the gambling.
They lovingly supported their five grandchildren in their sports, recreational activities and academic pursuits.
Since August 8, 2000, these five grandchildren have filled Pat and Mary Ann’s life with joy, pride and warmth.
Pat and Mary Ann—married for 55 years and ten months—made a full life’s worth of memories with family and neighbors who became enduring friends, including their own parents, their sons and their families, Martha, the Gulley siblings and their families, and Carolyn and Ivan Painter.
In his last decade, Pat and his wife taught their sons the quiet integrity of perseverance, duty and willpower, after Pat suffered a debilitating stroke.
Mike and Matt were blessed with great parents.
They are very lucky to have them, and love them.
Pat was preceded in death by his parents, Joseph and Juliette Kelley, and sister, Martha Ann (Bob) Ollis. He is survived by his wife, Mary Ann, sons Mike and Matt, and grandchildren Bryant (Kathryn), Henry, Troy, Ruby and Charley Kelley.
