Hans Andrew "Kelly" Eliassen

Hans Andrew "Kelly" Eliassen, a wonderful man who was loved so much by his family and so many of his dear friends passed away, and moved on to his next life, in Heaven, on September 8, 2024, He leaves behind his wife, Dawne. his son Taylor and his daughter-in-law Jessica and their three son's and Kellys precious Grandsons, Christopher, Oliver and Alexander, who were a huge blessing in his life. He also leaves behind his sweet older sister Connie Parham and many family members from his wife's side of the family.

Kelly was proceeded in death by his mother, Kathryn Eliassen, from Texas, and his father, Ole Ingolf Eliassen, who was born and raised in Svolvaer, Norway, in the Lofoton Islands and served in the Norwegian Merchant Marines sailing all over the world. Ole broke his foot on ship off the coast of Texas and was put in a hospital in traction for a few weeks, where Kathryn was a nurse. Even though Ole spoke several languages but not English, he and Katheryn fell in love and got married. Ole continued to sail for the Norwegian Merchant Marines for a few years, then moved permanently to Beaumont, Texas (and learned to speak English!).

Kelly was born and raised in Beaumont, TX, where he graduated from Beaumont High School and Lamar University. After college, he joined the US Army and was based at Fort Polk, Louisiana. Serving in the Army, he became a Paratrooper and was notified that he was being deployed to Vietnam. One jump from an Airplane later, he injured his knee badly and was told that he would not be going to Vietnam because of that. He then moved on from the Army and became a Law Enforcement Officer in his hometown of Beaumont, Tx. A vacation later, he went to Colorado with friends to go snow-skiing and decided that he wanted to move there permanently and fortunately he got hired by the Lakewood, Colorado Police Department almost right away. After a few years there, he met his future wife Dawne, who had moved to Colorado from Arkansas, and they got married on May 14, 1983. Just a bit later, Kelly moved on from being a police officer to becoming an Investigator with the Lakewood Police Dept. As Kelly was with Lakewood for 20 years, he could retire because he was awarded the Investigations Position for the new Capitol Crimes Unit with the Colorado Attorney Generals Office. After serving in the Capitol Crimes Unit for just over 9 years, The state of Colorado did away with the Death Penalty and Kelly moved on to Criminal Investigations for the Arapahoe County District Attorneys Office. The last case that he worked for them was serving as the Investigator for the Aurora Movie Theatre Shooting committed by James Holmes that occurred on July 20, 2012. After that case, he made the decision to retire from Law Enforcement and Investigations.

In addition to his fascinating Professional Career. Kelly loved playing golf and traveling to interesting places with his wife and friends. He and his wife Dawne shared some Amazing Vacations at very interesting places with their very dear friends on many occasions. He was such a special person and truly will be missed by his Wife, Son and all of his family AND by his wonderful Dear friends for many, many years to come. We are all so thankful to know that he is in Heaven with our Lord and Savior, since we don’t have him in our lives anymore. 

A Celebration of Kelly's life will be held at 11:00 in the morning on November 9, 2024, at Fellowship Community Church; 6263 S. Parker Road, Centennial, CO 80016.  

Please consider sharing your memories and condolences with Kelly's family on his guestbook below.