James Thomas Kekelis
August 16, 1946 ~ April 4, 2023
James “Jim/JK/Jimmy” Thomas Kekelis, age 76, of Madison, passed away on
Tuesday, April 4, 2023. He was born August 16, 1946 in Cleveland, to George and
Helen (Yuhovic) Kekelis. He married his adoring wife, Sheila, on June 18, 1966.
The food and beverage industry has always been in his blood. He began his young
working career at Krogers in the 1960’s. He worked in the commercial food service industry (The Brant Company in Cleveland, Ohio) for many years. He began Elegant Entrees in the 1980’s until forming the James Tea company in the 1990’s. Jim was the founder, owner & President of the James Tea Company. He was the previous owner of Sam & Tommy’s Tavern, Painesville, Ohio. JK forged many sincere friendships in his career, but the most were out of the life-long dear friends at Sam & Tommy’s that he held so dearly close to his heart.
His love for his life-long band of brother best friends; Dickie Hemmi, Lee
Babcock, Bob Beifuss & Jim Webster, never wavered through the changes of life.
Jim & Sheila’s deep love of travel took them to 48 US states, plus Ireland, Mexico,
Virgin Islands, Aruba & Eleuthera island, many times over. He and Sheila both had a love of Florida and made Fort Myers their second home. They made beautiful new friends & discovered his love for bocce ball.
His culinary explorations and the love of good food & wine, was always the center
of all family and friend gatherings. He would spend countless hours with the
grandkids making jellies and cookies. His other cherished past times also included
award–winning wine making & making his famous banana cream pie and of
course, tea. Jim also enjoyed woodworking as a life-long hobby and treasured
projects will be forever cherished by his family.
He is survived by his daughters, Rikki Williams and Mindy (Terry) Reed; and
grandchildren, Maddie, Luke, and Olivia; and his brother Ronnie Kekelis. He is
preceded in death by his parents; his adoring wife, Sheila; sister Carol Myers and son-in-law, Todd.
Friends will be received from 4:00 - 5:30PM on Thursday, April 13, at Behm Family Funeral Home, 26 River Street, Madison Ohio. A service will follow at 5:30PM.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made out to the ALS Association, 1170 Old Henderson Road - Suite 221 Columbus, Ohio 43220.
Online obituary and condolences may be viewed at www.behmfuneral.com
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Rikki and Mindy, I’m so sorry for your loss. I have so many fond and fun memmories of times with your Dad and Mom, absolutly amazing times. My guess is they’re all there together, Krissy included, having a glass of wine. God Bless them ALL.
Kenny