Howard Kelso's Obituary
It is with much love that we announce the passing of our father, grandfather, great-grandfather and friend, Howard Kelso, who died peacefully in Gahanna, Ohio on September 12, 2025 at the age of 102.
Howard was born on a rural farm in Jones County outside Anson, Texas, as the third child of eight to Lee and Gladys Kelso. The son of a tenant farmer, he grew up picking cotton and keeping watch for wild watermelons that grew in the field. He joined the Navy at 17, in May of 1941, to escape farming and have adventures, which he did in plenty. He married his high school sweetheart, Mary Cox Kelso, in 1945 who he met on the school bus when she was 14 and he 16, and raised two girls. For 27 years he served in the US Navy, entering the service as a Seaman 1c and finally retiring as a Lt. Commander. He had numerous deployments and duty stations that allowed him to travel the length of the US, and even live for a time on Midway Island. He worked on seaplanes and served aboard the USS Curtiss at Pearl Harbor, USS Princeton, USS Bennington and the USS Kitty Hawk. He fought in WWII in the South Pacific, Vietnam and Korea. When he retired from the Navy in 1968, he went to college to earn his teaching degree, and taught automotive mechanics as a public high school teacher to inner city San Diego school kids for eleven years. After he retired for a second time, he helped deliver flowers for his wife’s flower shop. Once retired for good, he served the Tehachapi Valley United Methodist church in a variety of ways, from committees to general handyman. He was a devoted husband to his childhood sweetheart, Mary, for an amazing 78 years.
He was always on the go, puttering around his garage or house working on various projects. He was a voracious reader, loved to talk, and always a great listener. He could play the harmonica incredibly well. Slow and steady in all things, never quick to rush to judgement. He heartedly disliked left-hand turns, read every instruction manual cover to cover, left movies early to beat the traffic, and was always incredibly proud of his family. He loved to tell stories of seeing his first Model T, the first Zepplin, a flushing toilet and an airplane, he would recall riding around in his parent’s wagon to town as well as every car he ever owned. A child of the Depression, he never left food on his plate and found second hand uses for everything. He wrote a book about his life when he turned 100. He was a great man.
He’s survived by his two daughters, Rhonda Stefanik of Gahanna, OH and Wanda Lynn Kelso of Fredericktown, OH; sister, Pauline Reynolds of New Braunfels, TX; two grandchildren, Mark (Tina) Stefanik of Honolulu, HI and Lorena (John) Popelka of Gahanna, OH; and 5 grandchildren, Ashton, Mackenzie, and Kelsyn Stefanik and Brian and Alison Popelka. We will all miss him terribly.
A memorial service will be held at Forestlawn Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in Howard’s name to Face the Fight or K-9 For Warriors.
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