John Patrick Kelley

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.

In the Navy, Pat was assigned to serve on the USS Wrangell, operating off the eastern seaboard of the United States, with deployments in the Caribbean and Mediterranean seas. Pat honorably completed his service in 1965.

Upon returning to Fort Wayne, he found employment at Bowmar LLC, where he met his soon-to-be lifelong partner, Mary Ann Gulley. Pat and Mary Ann married on December 28, 1968, before welcoming two sons to their home on August Drive—Michael (1971) and Matthew (1974).

Also in 1968, Pat joined Magnavox, where he worked until his retirement in 2007, and through several name changes—from Magnavox, to Philips, to Raytheon. Pat found meaningful work over those four decades, and enjoyed good friendships in the office and through the company’s golf league.

Pat loved watching Indiana University basketball—a sign in the family home said, “We interrupt this marriage for IU basketball season”—Notre Dame football, and PGA golf. In retirement, he went on to marshal at the PGA’s U.S. Senior Open and the BMW Championship. Pat and Mary Ann raised several show-winning Half-Arabian horses at JimJac Arabian Farm on Till Road. At JimJac, Pat’s responsibilities ranged from training and showing horses, to stacking hay and coating fenceposts with creosote. No task was too small to do well.

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 fun with it—became the template for how his sons pursued their own careers.

Before that, Pat taught his boys how to run, catch, throw, hit, swing, shoot, slide, ride, pedal, kick, jump and drive. He was never in a rush for them to leave the batting cage or the driving range. Together, they built models, built computers, built cars and built friendships.

Pat and Mary Ann loved traveling, with a special affection for Arizona. They lovingly supported their five grandchildren in their sports, recreational activities and academic pursuits. Since 2000, these grandchildren filled Pat’s life with joy, pride and warmth. Pat and Mary Ann—married for 55 years—made lifelong 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 his sons the quiet integrity of perseverance, duty and willpower, after Pat suffered a debilitating stroke.

Pat was preceded in death by his parents, Joseph and Juliette Kelley, and sister, Martha Ann Ollis. He is survived by his wife, Mary Ann, sons, Mike and Matt, and grandchildren, Bryant (Kathryn), Henry, Troy, Ruby and Charley.