John Kelling

John Kelling passed away on May 10 after a battle with acute myeloid leukemia. John was proud to be an Iowa-grown guy. He was born on July 16, 1951, and spent most of his childhood in Hampton, Iowa. He was the son of Fay and Mary Ellen Kelling, owners of Fay’s Family Restaurant. Along with his brother Ron and sister JoAnn, John learned all about dishwashing, catering, and everything that came with owning a successful family business.

John left Hampton to earn a degree in Journalism and Broadcasting from Minnesota State University Mankato. He went on to a career that included sports broadcasting, production, writing, and blogging. Some of his favorite years were spent alongside Jim Zabel at WHO Radio, where he served as producer for Jim’s Iowa Hawkeyes football pregame tailgate show. John had a tremendous love for sports and an incredible knowledge of the Chicago White Sox, Chicago Bears, Chicago Blackhawks, and, of course, the Iowa Hawkeyes. If you wanted to know anything about players, game details, or statistics, John could tell you.

John also authored two books, Hope Is a Weapon and the soon-to-be-published The Battle of Do Ab: A Miraculous Turn of Events, co-authored with LTC Justin Foote.

John and his wife, Joanne, were married for 36 years and were the very proud parents of Kristopher (Meghan), Jonathan, and Jordan (Morgan). They also enjoyed being grandparents to six wonderful children. John was also a lover of the family pets, including nine dogs, four cats, twelve chickens, and two fish.

A Celebration of Life gathering for John will be held at Crown Point Community Center, 6300 Pioneer Parkway, Johnston, Iowa, on Sunday, June 7, at 11:00 a.m.

In honor of John, the entire family of 12 plans to attend the final Chicago White Sox series of the regular season in Chicago during the last weekend of September.

Your presence and support mean so very much to us. In lieu of flowers or plants, memorial contributions may be made to the JohnKellingMemorial account on Venmo.