Kelly July 18, 1950 – Gessele October 25, 2019 of Carbondale, passed away on 10/25/19 after three amazing years with colon cancer. A celebration of life will be held at Cornerstone Christian Center 20351 Hwy 82, Basalt, CO at 4PM on Sunday, November 3, 2019.
He was born July 18, 1950. His parents Art and Bev and younger brother Barry precede Kelly in death. Siblings, Tracy (wife Cynthia), Penny, Jody (husband Tom Tinsley) all loved Kelly dearly and will miss him and his stories. Married to Jan in 1977 added two kids, Greta (partner Joey Carter) and Riley, 7 yr old grandson Blair (aka “the greatest soccer player who ever lived until the end of time”) and his mom Sarah. loved his work; with top licensing in Water and Wastewater his company Independence Environmental Services served the Roaring Fork Valley diligently caring for a host of municipal and private systems as well as installing water taps all over the western slope for 40 years. Climbing, snowboarding and living among the most beautiful fourteeners was all Kelly ever really needed and the only leisure activity that would move him from the mountains was surfing and even that only a few short days at a time!said the “write up” for the paper should say; “he grew up on the Eastern Slope, met Jan and moved to the mountains in 1975 where he started his life.” That was all he could think of and when Jan joked that’s good because they charge for obituaries nowadays he was shocked and said we don’t need it! Fear not, Jan assured Kelly that he could afford an announcement and he knew she would waste “all that money” just to let his friends know he’s not ignoring their calls’ but he’s finally decided to take a rest and has gone home. Kelly never got the allure of them so in lieu of flowers donations to the Pregnancy Resource Center or Little Rescue on the Prairie are welcomed.
