Deputy’s family organizes blood drive
Widow paying back kindness after on-duty death of McHenry’s Keltner
As other families settled into the holiday rush, family members of slain McHenry County Sheriff’s Deputy Jake Keltner were figuring out how to deal with their first season without him.
Part of that was the decorating.
Howard Keltner, Jake’s father, said it was more difficult than ever this year without his son, who was shot to death while on duty in March. What normally took Howard a day to complete, this year took three. But he still put out the 25-foot blow-up Santa Claus that his son, who lived just a block or so away in Crystal Lake, used to see from his back deck. That brought some lighter moments.
Helen Keltner, Jake’s mother, wept when she went through old Christmas decorations Jake made as a child.
Becki Keltner, his widow, wanted to ensure that the Christmas season is joyful for their sons Caleb, 7, and Carson, 5, who this year asked for Legos and
Pokémon toys and reflected on funny holiday moments shared with their dad. She struggled to decorate her home without her husband, but the desire to make her children happy for Christmas pushed her through the task, she said.
“The holidays are hard, but we are getting through,” Keltner said. “Thanksgiving was a hard day, but we hung out all together and we stuck together. We were OK.”
Still, it has not been the same. Because of the boys’ excitement for the season, decorations were put up and other preparations were made. But, Keltner said, it’s been “hard for me to do it without him.”
She recalled Jake’s playful demeanor at Christmastime.
“He was always really funny with gifts,” she said. “He would get so excited to get people gifts. He would want to buy them and give to them right away. And we would always say we would just buy for the kids and then he would hide jewelry in my stocking.”
Jake Keltner, 35, was killed March 7 while serving with the Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force as it attempted to arrest a man in Rockford on warrants from three downstate counties. The man, Floyd Brown, of Springfield, faces federal and state murder charges.
Becki Keltner said the family still receives donations and gifts — boxes of teddy bears, handmade quilts and blankets, letters and money — from people within their community as well as from strangers as far away as Hawaii.
To pay back all the kindness, she and her family have received since her husband was killed, Keltner has organized a blood drive in her husband’s memory.
The blood drive, being facilitated through the American Red Cross, will be from 1 to 6 p.m. Jan. 9, at D’Andrea Banquets, 4419 Northwest Highway in Crystal Lake — coincidentally the same place where she married her college sweetheart in 2007. The hall management is donating the space for the blood drive, which falls on the same date as Law Enforcement Appreciation Day, Keltner said.
All who preregister will receive a free Tshirt.
Although Jake Keltner did not survive his injuries, he received several pints of blood that allowed him to donate tissue, bone and heart valves through Gift of Hope as his final act of service, his wife said.
She is organizing the blood drive as part of National Blue Blood Drive sponsored by Concerns of Police Survivors. The national organization helped Keltner plan her husband’s funeral, and it facilitates special events for survivors of fallen police officers.
Keltner’s goal is to get at least 200 donations of blood. As of mid-December 100 people had registered online at RedCrossBlood. org (sponsor code “Keltner”).
“Every two seconds, someone in the U.S. needs blood, and every donation can save up to three lives,” she said. “I feel like people have given me so much, supported me, and this is a way I could give back. I just thought this would be a really good way to do something positive.”
She also hopes to continue on her late husband’s example of teaching their sons that as they grow up, they should find ways to help other people. She wants to instill in her boys “service over self,” Keltner said.
“We are trying to keep Christmas going for the boys to be happy, but it’s hard sometimes,” said Helen Keltner, who added that they still receive regular visits from their son’s friends and sheriff’s deputies.
The family also is celebrating the birth of a new grandchild this Christmas season, born to one of Helen and Howard’s other two sons. The child’s middle name is Jacob.
In this past year, Howard Keltner said, “We have gone through the worst of the worst and the highest of the highest. I don’t know how we are doing it.”
To that, Helen Keltner said, “Jake would be the first one telling us to move on and get on with our lives.”
“We are getting there,” Howard Keltner responded.