Update and investigation

Just thought I'd pass along that the funeral home has added this very nice photo of Kevin Kelly to the obituary they have posted on their web site. Also, I noticed that people have been leaving some nice remembrance comments in the guest book there, if you're inclined to take a look.

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And, some news: Authorities are apparently investigating Kevin's death, which might not mean much as it could be standard procedure. But they reportedly still have his car and his Blackberry.

It is thought that Kevin was returning home early in the morning after having spent the night with some relatives when his car drifted into the open median of the Interstate and rolled to a stop — a scenario that seems to make suicide a little less plausible. But that information is not confirmed, so it's also possible he pulled the car off the road himself.

In any case, there reportedly was no crash; the car never rolled or anything.

More later, as information becomes available.

Funeral services and obituary

Mom just let me know that the mortuary had posted Kevin's obituary on their web site. The funeral is, indeed, on Wednesday.

I've posted the obit below in its entirety, but if you'd like to see the original link, click here.

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Kevin Michael Kelly

Born in Pueblo, CO on Aug. 8, 1960 Departed on Dec. 30, 2008 and resided in Colorado City, CO.

Services: 2 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2009 at Montgomery & Steward Chapel, Pueblo, Colo.

Kevin Michael Kelly, 48, passed away Dec. 30, 2008. Survived by his wife, Yana Drozdava of St. Petersburg, Russia; mother, Phyllis A. Kelly of Colorado City; son, Michael E. Kelly of Rye; former wife, May Kay Deverich of Rye; sister, Shannon (Ben) Kelly Lung; nephews, John D. (Ashley Doyle) Moore of Portland, Ore. and Vincent R. (Allysha Walk) Moore of Pueblo; aunt, Gwen Boyer of Douglas, Wyo.; and several cousins who reside in Nebraska and Wyoming. Preceded in death by his father, T. Jack Kelly.

Kevin was born Aug. 8, 1960, in Pueblo. He was an international businessman and the president of Integral Systems. He enjoyed photography and spending time with his family and friends.

There will be no viewing. Cremation, Montgomery & Steward Crematorium. Memorial service, 2 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2009, in the Montgomery & Steward Chapel with Msgr. Marvin Kapushion officiating.

In lieu of food and flowers, memorials may be made to the Michael E. Kelly account, in care of Montgomery & Steward Funeral Directors, 1317 N. Main St., Pueblo, Colo. 81003. Online condolences, MontgomerySteward.com.

Travel options to Pueblo

Some info as people are pondering whether they can get to Kevin's funeral in Pueblo, Colo. (bear in mind this info is geared toward those who would be traveling from California):

Google Maps put Pueblo about 15 hours from Riverside, or 16.5 hours from San Diego via another route. I've already volunteered to be a driver if anyone is considering a vanpool that would drive straight through.

Unfortunately, the weather might not be on our side. The Weather Channel is reporting that a storm is going to push through the west and into the Midwest this weekend, dumping up to 12 inches of snow across the northern Rockies and accompanied by "pockets of freezing drizzle." Fun.

This maybe makes flying a more feasible option. Having just battled the airports, I recommend looking at Southwest, which won't charge you for checking luggage (almost everyone else does at this point, as I found out the hard way). When I checked out the site just now, they were offering nonstop round-trip flights from San Diego for about $485; and from Orange County for $549.

Otherwise, Orbitz has round-trip, one-stop flights going for about $400; just be sure to only carry on if you're looking to economize on those.

WeatherChannel.com offers a cool way to stay on top of weather impacts on flights, if you end up going that route.

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UPDATE: United flies into Colorado Springs, which is a little closer to Pueblo. You can get flights there on Orbitz for about $225 from San Diego, but it looks like it will cost more than $500 to fly from Orange County.

Very bad news

I'm not sure whether this is wholly appropriate, but I found out about an hour ago that our cousin, Kevin Kelly, committed suicide. Because I know Kevin always loved coming to the Wilson reunion at Fort Rob — he was basically the official photographer there this past summer — I felt compelled to post the news here.

Since I'm sure this is going to come as quite a shock to the whole family, I thought this might also be a good way to centralize any further information about this tragedy. I'm sure everyone is going to want to know as much as they can about what happened as well as details about the funeral arrangements. So, as I find out more, I'll try to post it here. If any of you have anything to add, please do so via the comments link.

For now, all I know is what I can recall from the brief phone conversation with my dad from earlier this afternoon: The funeral will likely be next week in Pueblo, Colo.

We love you, Cuz.

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UPDATE: I'm told the funeral will be on Wednesday in Pueblo, Colo.

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UPDATE 2: It seems we're not entirely certain about the day of the funeral, so don't bank on Wednesday quite yet. Stay tuned.

Wilsons circa 1972

At my request, Janma sent me a batch of (original) photos to put into her book. I have a bunch, but as I got further into things, I realized I needed more "recent" photos.

In this last grouping, I found the above photograph, and it really struck me. I'm not sure why, exactly. It seemed like a crossroads picture, maybe... just two grandchildren shy... Anyway, when I saw it, I felt compelled to share.

I'm just guessing on the date, based on the ages of the younger kids, whose ages I guessed in relation to my own. Feel free to correct me. Hope you enjoy this one.

*SPOILER ALERT*

I've managed to put off the video editing so long that I pretty much forget how it works, so I'll be dusting off those skills again soon. Lots of clips in the folder — at least a couple good shows' worth. From all the masterpiece skill sets at the Arts & Crafts building to the printing of our young'uns, there's some fun moments to share.

So I don't leave ya hangin', I've posted a shorty below. This one's a quick look-see, with a token Scott moment near the end. (Who doesn't enjoy those?)

Happy Birthday! (again!)

OK... there was a little glitch in the birthday calendar, but I believe all is well now. (Thanks, Becki, for letting me know.)

I should also note that the dates were posted "quick-entry style," so if the date had already passed, it sometimes wouldn't show up until 2009. For example, Mary Powell's birthday was earlier this month, so it won't necessarily show up in the August 2008 calendar, but she's there for 2009. Ben Harless' birthday is Thursday, so his shows up as the first entry since it's after the date I put them all into the calendar.

This calendar is very interactive. Click on the arrows to flip between months, or click on the date and you can flip forward or back to a specific date and it will give you all the calendar listings closest to then.

If anyone else encounters any problems, or if there's corrections to be made, just post a comment on this entry, and I'll get it taken care of ASAP.

Enjoy!

Happy Birthday!

Wow. Two weeks from my last post? Pretty sad. To make up for it, I offer you a couple of new features:

1. A label cloud. This just gives you a quick look at the topics covered in the blog as well as how often: The bigger the point size, the more entries we have on that topic.

2. The self-updating Wilson Family Birthdays calendar, nestled in the rail. You can scroll forward and back, and even print.

I'm guessing the lot of you will be more excited about the second item. As you recall, Kelli brought a big laminated calendar for everyone to mark their family's dates on. She passed it along to me this last weekend, and I told her I'd figure out a way to make it useful for the blog.

As it turned out, it wasn't that hard, at least not in this basic form. If another better format comes along, I'll be sure to update it.

And speaking of updating, please don't hesitate to let me know if there are any errors. I did my best to check myself, but even editors need editors sometimes.

Enjoy the new features. And don't say I never gave ya anything. ;-)

Thanks, Cuz!

Robert and Jack made sure Glenn had his hands full, and Kevin Kelly clicked through it all. Thanks to Kevin, there's lots of cool series shots like these in Slideshow Bob.

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I got Kevin's DVD of pics a couple days ago and finally got all the Ft. Rob ones loaded into Slideshow Bob. I MIGHT get them captioned someday. Or not. But they're there for your viewing pleasure.

These are fun to watch in slideshow format (third link on the right, if you clicked the above link), given a lot of the pics are consecutive shots — like those above of Glenn getting mauled by a ferocious Jack and Joe-Bob. You'll definitely pick up the expressive nuances that way.

Again, a big thanks to Kevin Kelly. That guy's got talent. Must be related. ;-)

Killer Bunnies, Chapter 1: Delay of Game

Kim, Evan and I were the last to arrive at Ft. Rob, rolling into the park around midnight (local time) July 28.

Much to the shagrin of Dryden, who had managed to hold off the big Killer Bunnies match in my absence, according to the Twitter feed.

DrydenTheMeints: "Dryden is making it so that gina gets to be in on the first killer bunnies game. Mental note: make sure she thanks me. Hehe" (10:02 PM July 28, 2008)

As it turned out, thanks weren't entirely necessary as I staved off later games until Dryden could return from consecutive nights spent attending the Fort's musical productions of "Guys & Dolls" and "South Pacific."

designerGina: "Eric [Reed] wants a practice round before dryden gets here.... i smell fear." (09:22 PM July 30, 2008)

And this was only the beginning.

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NEXT UP:
Killer Bunnies, Chapter 2: Enter the Spatula