Dan E Kelley

Dan E Kelley, 77, passed away on September 9, 2024, after a life filled with laughter, love for his family and friends, and an enduring appetite to experience the world and share it with those he loved. 

 Dan was born on January 2, 1947, in Monmouth, Illinois, the son of Helen Bernice Kelley and Carroll “Casey” Kelley, a World War II combat veteran who returned home to farm the black dirt of Illinois after military service that included a landing on the beaches of Normandy and surviving the Battle of the Bulge. 

 Dan grew up a farm kid in post-war America, milking cows, tending chickens, and helping his parents run a farmstead on rented land near North Henderson, IL. From his father, Dan acquired the work ethic of a farmer, the mind of a mechanic, and an abiding spirit of service to his country, to his family, and to his friends and neighbors. From both his parents, he inherited a penchant for straight talk and impatience for pretension. At age 10, Dan’s family moved to town, Galesburg, IL. Dan attended Galesburg High School and helped out at a local garage and machine shop owned by his uncle, where his father was a mechanic. 

 Dan was the first of his family to go to college, attending Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE). One night while a student in Milwaukee, Dan crashed a neighbor’s birthday party and sometime later married the birthday girl, Lydia Mae MacKenzie. Lydia, born and raised in Michigan’s upper peninsula, worked for a Milwaukee optometrist while Dan completed his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. They married on July 6, 1968. Lydia was 22; Dan was 21. 

 Over the next 56 years, Dan and Lydia (called “Kelley” and “Pi” by one another and loved ones) raised three children and four bird dogs and built a life together in Wisconsin. They instilled in their children a love for the outdoors, building family bonds while camping, downhill skiing, hunting and fishing, and epic road trips across the American West in the family station wagon. 

 Dan and Lydia’s first son, Matthew Dan, was born in 1970. In 1971, Dan was drafted into the U.S. Army and sent to Vietnam. Dan served as a clerk on the Long Binh Post, a large air base situated between Bien Hoa and Saigon, Vietnam. He received an honorable discharge from the Army, with a number of service medals, in March 1973. 

After returning home, Dan resumed his career as an engineer. Lydia became pregnant for the second time. The couple was informed on the day Lydia went into labor – July 8, 1974 – that they would have twins. Their son, David E Kelley, was born a few minutes ahead of his sister, Casey Ann. The family lived during those early years in a walk-up flat on Milwaukee’s east side and in a duplex in Muskego, WI. They later moved to Appleton, WI, where Dan worked for Crane Engineering Sales, specializing in fluid handling technology for industrial clients including paper companies, cranberry growers, food makers, and other manufacturers. In 1981, the family moved to Wales, WI, and Dan managed southeast Wisconsin territory for Crane Engineering. Throughout his career – whether working in industrial sales or as an independent handyman or in the plumbing department at Home Depot in Delafield, WI. – Dan found vocation in sharing his know-how and talent with those who needed a helping hand. 

 Dan and Lydia raised their family and made a home in Wales for over 35 years, collecting friends and new hobbies all the while. Dan was a man with vast interests and passions. He loved to bird hunt with his dogs and his kids. His other interests included: fly fishing, camping, canoeing, biking, American history, woodworking, and mountaineering. During one family vacation to Grand Teton National Park, Dan summited the highest peak in the Teton Range, the Grand Teton. He rode his bike hundreds of miles across Wisconsin … twice … completing two routes of the Sentinel Active American Great Bike Ride Across Wisconsin. 

 In all these pursuits, Dan loved most the opportunity to share the experience with family and friends. All the way until his death in 2024, he embraced any opportunity to share and teach his hobbies and lend his skills. He once “kidnapped” his grandson for a middle-of-the-night catfishing trip, and loved nothing more than hunting and skiing with his kids and grandkids. He worked tirelessly on improvement projects in all his kids’ homes. And he relished the chance to help prepare (and eat) big meals for family holidays or the neighborhood gourmet club in Wales. Through his hobbies and his work, Dan collected and kept friends throughout his life. 

Throughout, Dan and Lydia faced life’s challenges together and head-on. When Dan was drafted into the Army, Lydia moved with their infant son to a ramshackle apartment in Kentucky so that the family could be together during basic training. When Lydia was diagnosed with breast cancer in her 40’s, she and Dan stayed focused on raising their kids, through tortuous treatments and enduring side effects. When Lydia suddenly and inexplicably lost much of her vision, Dan drove her to Florida to seek specialty care. 

 From a hospital bed, near the end of his life, Dan reflected on their journey with characteristic directness. “It was her and I against the world,” he said. “Always was.”

 During his final years, Dan and Lydia lived in Montana, near their oldest son’s family and the mountains and hunting grounds that gave Dan joy. 

 He is survived by his wife, Lydia, and their three children: Casey Krueger, and her husband, Brian; David Kelley, and his wife, Angie; and Matthew Kelley, and his wife, Catherine. Dan’s ultimate joy in life was his nine grandchildren: Ethan, Grace, Owen, Claire, Kelley, Laila, William, Charlotte, and Henry.

 After a year-long fight with cancer, Dan died at home with Lydia and family at his side. He was preceded in death by his parents, Casey and Bernice Kelley, and three bird dogs: Jackie, Lucy, and Boomer. Dan’s last bird dog, Pepper, lives now with his son, David, in Iowa, where she will continue to hunt birds, cuddle aggressively, and unapologetically steal food from the counter. 

Dan’s kids will advise family and friends of memorial plans when they occur. A scattering of Dan’s ashes will take place somewhere in the mountains, sometime in the future. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions to the Prostate Cancer Foundation (www.cure.pcf.org), 1250 4th Street, Santa Monica, CA, 90401.

 A video memorializing Dan and Pi’s life together can be found below.

May the good Lord be with you
Down every road you roam
And may sunshine and happiness
Surround you when you're far from home
And may you grow to be proud
Dignified and true
And do unto others
As you'd have done to you.

~ Bob Dylan