Ted F Kelley Jr.

Ted Flynn Kelley Jr., 84, of Buena Vista, Colorado died May 31, 2026. Ted was born March 8, 1942 in Kansas City, Kansas and grew up in Lakin, Kansas, graduating from Lakin Rural High School. He attended the University of Kansas earning his BFA in 1964 and his MFA in 1973. He was married to Michele Clugston in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1967.

Ted voluntarily enlisted in the Kansas National Guard in 1967, served in the Army as a First Lieutenant and was Honorably Discharged in 1972. He attended officer’s training school and was commissioned at Fort Riley in Kansas. He served in the 196th Light Brigade as an Infantry Platoon Leader-B Company in Vietnam where he earned many commendations including the Combat Infantryman's Badge, the Bronze Star, and Air Medal. He returned to his wife and first born daughter in 1969 and moved to Boulder, Colorado to work for IBM in 1970.

Ted spent 18 years with IBM in product development, culminating as Entry Systems Design Manager in Boca Raton, Florida. His work included contributions to the design of the first IBM Personal Computers. Among his contributions at IBM, Ted developed several important patents, including the IBM Model M Enhanced Keyboard, introduced in 1985 and considered by enthusiasts to be the greatest, most durable mechanical keyboard ever manufactured. Ted developed lifelong friendships with his fellow Boulder IBMers.

Living up to the second motto of IBM at the time “I’ve Been Moved”, Ted’s family spent time in Colorado, the Netherlands, Arizona, Minnesota, and Florida before he took early retirement and settled back in Boulder, Colorado with his wife, Michele. Ted opened his own design office there, continuing his industrial design practice in medical equipment, computer, sports, and office environments.

Ted was a life-long athlete, participating in high school basketball, baseball, and football, and as an adult, hiking, backpacking, distance running, skiing, and later motorcycling. He was a bike commuter in Boulder and began training for marathons in Tucson. He was proud of the fact that he ran a marathon in under 3 hours, got his EMT certification so that he could work on Copper Mountain’s Ski Safety Patrol, and rode his Harley-Davidson V-Rod for many years with the Colorado 500. When Ted set his mind to doing something, he did it well.

As an artist and designer, Ted had a passion for sculpture and architecture, design thinking, ergonomics, and human factors. The modernist design principles of his era guided his creative work. Ted’s influential design work and professional contributions continue to be respected by his contemporaries. Ted’s art escape was in his shop in his garage studio. Often completing studies with geological motifs, Ted emulated natural environments conveying solitude in remote spaces, or contemplating movement through a field of stone, a chasm, or geometric repetition. Later, Ted’s paintings included more of the mountain and desert scenes that he traversed between his home in Colorado and the family cabin in New Mexico.

Ted spent 20 years in Buena Vista, Colorado with his second wife, Claire, finding refuge in the beauty of Colorado’s Collegiate Peaks and the outdoors. Ted and Claire were married in Jemez Springs, NM in 2006. Together they enjoyed the many friendships and connections they made. He was an avid fly fisherman, spending his days catching and releasing, or occasionally cooking, his catch. He also enjoyed riding the scenic passes and forest roads surrounding the area. His grandchildren love and admire him for his amazing stories, guitar playing, grilling, and sharing his many skills and talents and his goofy sense of humor.

Ted is survived by his wife of 20 years Claire Kelley, sister Mina Soltz of Denver, daughters Ingerid Kelley of Denver and Megan Kelley and son-in-law Jon Van Oast of Albuquerque, and grandchildren Aidan and Kellen Lubowicki, and Solveig, Pascale and Ambrose Van Oast. Ted was preceded in death by his first wife of 34 years, Michele Kelley.

An honorary service will be held at Fort Logan National Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, please make a donation in the name of Ted Flynn Kelley Jr. to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund:

https://www.vvmf.org/?form=donate