Jo Ann Kelley
1935 – 2014
The day she was born into Christ, her baptismal day, Jo Kelley was destined for Eternal Life in Christ. She went to be with Jesus on Monday, October 27, 2014.
She was born in Cygnet, Ohio to Paul and Nancy (Feasel) Klingensmith in 1935. She was the baby sister to: Betty Jane Fegley, Helen Claybaugh, Mary Lou Coakley and Ila Gene Klingensmith (an angel).
Jo was a Cygnet Zipper cheerleader and graduated Valedictorian of her class in 1953. Upon graduation she went to work at Eoff Insurance, Findlay, Ohio.
In 1953, Bob Kelley got a glimpse of the “love of his life” when Jo attended her niece’s church performance at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, North Baltimore. Bob went the next day to Cygnet to find her (AKA Slugger) quarterbacking the neighborhood football game. The rest is history… 60 years later they are still celebrating their love and devotion to each other, to their six children: LuAnn Matthes, Laura Lee Damon, Vera Kelley-Bury, Amy Jo Kelley (an angel), R. Charles and John Kelley, their spouses, 11 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
She was a selfless daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother, Gigi, and friend to all she came in contact with. In May 2014, she was diagnosed with pancreatic and liver cancer. She rallied with all she had to be a testimony of faith and strength to others.
She partnered with husband, Bob to grow Bob Kelley Chevrolet-Buick and raised their family and neighborhood kids as the full-time mom of “South Tarr Street.”
Bob and Jo remain members of St. Luke’s Lutheran Church of North Baltimore and visiting members of Marco Island Lutheran Church, Marco Island, Florida where you would find them on Sunday mornings in the first or third rows to worship and glorify God.
Our angel will be missed at all our family gatherings because she was either in costume or the life of the party. That legacy will live on as we take our turn to “party on” in her memory.
She taught us to open our hearts as we looked at others and to see the angels that dwelled among us during our journey with cancer. We felt those angels at the office of Dr. Li, at Blanchard Valley Hospital (BVH), in our church, at restaurants, those straightening the house during our frequent visits to the doctors or hospital, pastoral calls/visits and those angels that will lift us now that our Jo (Mom) is an angel. GHG – God’s Healing Grace comes down – and for that – grateful are we!
Memorial donations may be made to St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, North Second Street, North Baltimore, Ohio, Current Expense Account.
The Celebration of Life for Jo Kelley will be at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, October 31, 2014, at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, followed by a friendship meal until 2:00 p.m. A private burial for family members will be in New Maplewood Cemetery at 2:00 p.m. Visitation will be held at SMITH-CRATES FUNERAL HOME, 515 North Main Street, North Baltimore, Ohio 45872 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 30, 2014. Online condolences may be made via www.coldrencrates.com.
