Michael Richard Kelsey

Mike passed away shortly after temporarily relocating to Virginia to recover from a recent illness. He lived in Fort Myers, Florida, and loved it there. The sunshine and hot weather was made for him. Mike put up a courageous, two-year fight against esophageal cancer. He woke up every day determined not to let the cancer get the best of him or dull his positivity.

Mike was born on January 14th, 1956, in Elgin, Illinois. His parents were Frank and Jean Kelsey, and he had two sisters, Deb (Kent) Hamele and Barb (Dave) Warren. He was preceded in death by his best friend, Debra Kelsey, on April 12th, 2003. They had 3 children together: Nicole (Justin) Hoffman, Shannon (Christopher) Seymour, and Lucas Kelsey. Mike also had 6 grandchildren: Debra, Catalina, Delia, Theodore, Luka, and Cillian. He has spent the last 15 years with his life partner, Karen Kozlowski, by his side. Mike graduated from Northern Illinois University. He was a man of many talents and worked in different fields throughout his life. He ultimately spent the most time running pool businesses in Fort Myers and Cape Coral, Florida.

Anyone who had ever had the pleasure of meeting Mike knew that he was positive, kind, compassionate, and always willing to help anyone. There are not enough kind words that can be said to explain how wonderful he was. In our family, we loved to say that Dad never met a stranger! He could and would strike up a conversation with anyone, whether it be in the elevator or at the grocery store. Mike was a fiercely proud father and “Papa” to his grandchildren. His children were his best friends, and he would always go out of his way to make sure they were always taken care of.

Mike's passion was traveling near and far with Karen! They have been to places such as Canada, Alaska, Yellowstone National Park, and Rocky Mountain National Park. If there was an adventure nearby, Dad wanted to find it and experience it. He has always loved History and enjoyed traveling to historic sites and learning as much as he could. Dad also enjoyed a cup of coffee, a cold beer, and a good book. Mike loved watching his children play ice hockey and carried that love of hockey over to his beloved Chicago Blackhawks. He also enjoyed watching all types of racing, especially NASCAR. When his wife passed away, he started a foundation in her name (The Deb Kelsey Fund) to help cover expenses for kids who couldn’t necessarily afford the steep costs of playing travel ice hockey. Mike also never wanted a cat, but thanks to his daughter Nicky, he ended up loving them and recently lost his two best friends, Cheyenne and Robert.

There isn’t enough time in the day or paragraphs that could accurately explain what a great life he lived, how kind of a human he was (In his will, he kindly left money to the dog fostering group that his sister works with, and his local food bank). He will be missed every single day, and the world is a little less bright without him in it. We hope as a family that we can make him proud every day and carry on his amazing legacy. A celebration of life event will be scheduled at a later date.