John Timothy O'Kelley, age 79, passed away at home on June 11, 2019 after a lengthy illness. John was born to Richard Timothy and Mary Helen (Romero) O'Kelley on February 8, 1940 in Fairplay, Colorado.

Fairplay, where John grew up, was a very small community high up in the Rocky Mountains. He went to school at Fairplay Elementary School and graduated from Breckenridge High School in 1958. John joined the Masons in 1958 and belonged to Breckenridge Lodge #47 A.F. & A.M. Even though he had moved from Breckenridge years ago, he kept his membership there.

John married Beverly Anderson in 1967. They lived in Denver for a while and then settled in Erie, CO where they raised their two children, Richard and Norma. Beverly died in 1987 leaving John to parent the two teenagers.

John and his father owned a gas station in Denver for some years but later he worked at General Cable which later became Mobil Tool International. He started working in the machine shop, and later became a supervisor. About 1995, he was moved into the engineering department and even though he knew nothing about computers he knew he could do it and he soon was able to write programs for the CNC machines. He did this until he retired in 2003.

John met Nancy Jobelius in 1997 and they had a long-distance relationship until June 17, 2000 when they got married in Green Bay. Nancy moved to Colorado and they lived in Westminster for 3 years. After John's retirement in 2003, John and Nancy moved to Howard, Wisconsin.

John was a very creative man, he had a metalworking workshop as well as woodworking machinery and could create or recreate anything he was shown. He loved working on his computer and if there was something he didn't understand he worked at it until he had it figured out. If anyone needed help with anything, he was more than willing to give them a hand.

John was an active member of the Howard-Suamico Historical Society. He was able to help in many areas, driving the 1950 fire truck in parades, painting or fixing most anything. When the society started collecting photographs to digitize, he figured out how to do the scanning and saving the photos in good form. This included over 6500 photos.

John is survived by his wife, Nancy; his two children, Richard O'Kelley, Highlands Ranch, CO and Norma O'Kelley, Loveland, CO; four grandchildren: Skyler O'Kelley and Makenna O'Kelley, both of Highlands Ranch, CO, Meagan (Brandon) Wing of Loveland, CO and Steven Lee of Loveland, CO; and two great–grandchildren. He is also survived by three step-children: Karen (Paul) Skaleski of Green Bay, Cheryl Parker, and Diane (Joseph) Cegelski of Howard; four step-grandchildren and two step-great-grandchildren. John is also survived by a brother Fred (Elena) O'Kelley, Alamogordo, NM and a sister Edna Louise (Harry) Bittlinger, Nocona, TX. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Beverly, his parents and grandparents.

John has two Yorkies that he loved, Bella and Bonny, and they are going to miss him very much.

There will be a memorial gathering at the Pfotenhauer Funeral Home and Cremation Service, Howard-Suamico location, 1145 Cardinal Lane on Monday, June 17, 2019 from 3 until 5:00 p.m. A Celebration of His Life will be held at 5:00 p.m. with Rev. Diane Rew officiating. Online condolences welcome at www.PfotenhauerFuneralHome .

A memorial fund has been established in his name at the funeral home.

Nancy would like to thank her daughter Diane for helping with John during his last days at home. She would also like to thank Dr. Pant and Alisha, his nurse for all their care. Also, many thanks to the people at St. Mary's Hospital who were so kind and helpful to him on his many visits there over the past 2 ½ years. They include the valet, registration, transport people, and the nurses in ODS2. And finally many thanks to Unity Hospice for their wonderful care.