Jeffrey Dean Fellers

Jeff was born and raised in Hays, Kansas, the son of Jay Douglas Fellers and Patricia Carolyn Fellers. He grew up on a dairy farm, where his early years included the decidedly unglamorous realities of farm life: milking cows, doing chores, and learning that the work still had to be done whether you felt like doing it or not. He attended Hays High School and Fort Hays State University before eventually making his way to

Arizona in 1988, where he would spend the remainder of his life.

Jeff's life took him in many directions. He spent a decade working in marketing and sales, an experience that allowed him to travel throughout the United States and see places and experience things he otherwise might not have. He later worked for Perlman & Perlman, LLP as a Compliance Specialist. But some of the most meaningful chapters of his life weren't about work at all. They were about being a dad.

Jeff was the father of two sons, James and John. His experiences raising them, including the everyday realities of raising a son with autism, became the inspiration for his writing. Under the name Paul Kemp, Jeff authored The Daddy Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Modern American Dad and its sequel, The Daddy

Diaries: The Adventure Continues! Most importantly, he found humor in the chaos. His writing captured a father teaching his sons about the world while discovering, sometimes unexpectedly, just how much they were teaching him.

Jeff made his home in Chandler with his wife, Leslie, and their two chihuahuas, Nugget and Minnie. Jeff adored the dogs and took particular pleasure in dressing them up, whether or not Nugget and Minnie had been consulted about their wardrobe choices. Both passed away recently and were deeply missed.

Music was another constant in Jeff's life. His tastes refused to stay neatly inside one genre. The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Grateful Dead, Electric Light Orchestra, David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash were among the artists he loved and appreciated.

And although Jeff lived in Arizona for nearly four decades, Kansas never entirely left him. He remained a devoted Kansas City Chiefs fan. He followed politics closely as well, held strong convictions, and was a proud Democrat. Those who knew Jeff knew that he had opinions about the world around him and wasn't particularly shy about sharing them.

Jeff also had a few surprises tucked away. He enjoyed playing war games and, as his family only recently discovered, had quietly assembled an impressive collection of Gucci shoes, watches, wallets and a bag, an unexpectedly fashionable side of Jeff that has given his family something to smile about even in the midst of losing him. His was a life filled with different chapters: a Kansas dairy farm and the Arizona desert, fatherhood and writing, music and politics, Chiefs football, war games, beloved dogs, apparently a little Gucci, family, laughter, challenges and the continuing process of figuring life out along the way.

Perhaps Jeffrey described himself best in the short biography he wrote as Paul Kemp:

"I'm a late bloomer, so it seems like I'm always having to catch up to where others are, but that's part of the joy of the adventure."

Jeff's adventure ended far sooner than anyone expected.

He is survived by his wife, Leslie; his sons, James and John of Phoenix; his step-daughter, Courtney Wycoff of Oceanside, California; his siblings, Jay Fellers of Englewood, Colorado; Jennie Fellers of Topeka, Kansas; Jason Fellers and his wife, Lucia, of Brighton, Colorado; and Josh "Dusty" Fellers of Pagosa Springs, Colorado; as well as extended family, friends and others whose lives became part of his story along the way.

Jeff was preceded in death by his parents, Jay Douglas Fellers and Patricia Carolyn Fellers, and by his beloved chihuahuas, Nugget and Minnie.

Details regarding services and memorial contributions will be announced by the family.