Please share…
We encourage family, friends, or anyone who is inspired to contribute your memories and thoughts on the life of John Lewis Keller.
John Lewis Keller
Memorial Fund
Please share…We encourage family, friends, or anyone who is inspired to contribute your memories and thoughts on the life of John Lewis Keller.
FOND MEMORIES
My fondest memories of John were during his sixth grade year at Greater Atlanta Christian School. He had an oral and written report to complete on a favorite European country. The written report was a small task but the oral report would be a gargantuan one because John was a quiet, unassuming young man. His day in front of the class was spectacular. Even then, God was intervening in the life of this young man. His presentation was delivered with great ease and enthusiasm. I’m sure his mom, dad, and brother, Michael, had prayed fervently for God to give him a brief moment of oratory because he was sensational. He was a precious student and will be sorely missed.
A STORY OF LOVE
In an effort to celebrate the life of John Keller, it is an honor to share the story of my son’s disabilities so that we might all join in the effort to help others understand students who learn differently. Although John’s life was short in years, his legacy will live on forever.
Brad was a curious kid, walked independently at 8 months, and one who at age 2 preferred to go to the vacuum cleaner section of a store as opposed to the toy section. He had a keen interest in how things worked, was caring and compassionate, and loved life. We cherished our gift. We knew he was gifted intellectually, but his early school years were wrought with misunderstandings of which he was, his gifts and how to teach him. I began advocating with little success. It was apparent the teachers were not prepared to teach a child who had difficulty with reading, couldn’t spell, had a hard time sitting still, couldn’t put thoughts on paper and loved to talk!! We sought other environments for his education. His self esteem had taken a beating and he was the target for bullies. Today at age 17, he speaks of the torment and misery he suffered at the hands of others. He now knows that he will be their boss someday!!!!! God blessed us with a decision to seek his remaining educational years at GACS. Although GACS had much to learn about disabilities as a whole, they provided a wonderful academic support atmosphere that gave Brad a place that assisted academically, but more important, a place to go that understood him and loved unconditionally. We have been blessed by the attitude of GACS to learn more about students with dyslexia, attention deficit disorder, and processing disorders. He is provided with notes, has test support and extended time on tests, and is allowed to do tests orally. This type of support provides an opportunity for Brad to succeed. Isn’t that what it is all about? SUCCESS, using the strengths that all kids have, recognizing them and educating accordingly. He understands and accepts who he is, what it takes to succeed, and that he CAN succeed. We are grateful to those who have guided him. A Willing student + supportive and knowledgeable parents + caring, understanding, and knowledgeable teachers = a confident, successful student. We are blessed.
It is my prayer that federal money can be used to educate educators so they can learn different learning styles and how to teach for success. Our children are our future, and many of our different types of learners will be our leaders of tomorrow. They are great brains yearning to make a difference because they know they can. We need to make sure they have the chance.
We choose to believe Brad’s disabilities are a gift, not a curse. We just have to be diligent in navigating the course.
May God bless the efforts of the Keller family and their desire to share John’s legacy with the hopes of helping others with disabilities.
Blessings,
Sara Bazemore
A LETTER FROM PAT REYNOLDS
My name is Pat Reynolds and I am the father of Corbin Reynolds, who recently graduated from Greater Atlanta Christian School and is currently a freshman at Clemson University. Corbin was the recipient of the 2009 JOHN KELLER AWARD for Overcoming Hardships and Challenges. Coach Cook Holliday and Coach Brad Kinser presented Corbin the award at the end of the school year following the State Track Meet this past
spring.
First and foremost, I would like to thank you for allowing this award to be given in John’s name. Coach Holliday and Coach Kinser spoke eloquently about John and how wonderful of a young man he was and what he meant to the coaches and students at GAC. It was an honor for Corbin to receive this award, as he has fought hard to overcome a childhood disease that still affects him today.
When Corbin was 8 years old he was diagnosed with Legg-Calve-Perthes, which is a degenerative bone disease in his hip. It is somewhat rare and the medical community does not know the exact cause of this disease. Corbin has lived with this disease and constantly has battled pain, discomfort and limited motion in his left leg. Like John, Corbin worked very hard during his senior season at his event, which was the Shot Put. His hard work and dedication, coupled with the encouragement from both Coach Holliday and Coach Kinser, resulted in Corbin winning the Class AA State Championship in the Shot Put in 2009.
At the banquet, the words that Coach Holliday used to describe John and the wonderful young man he was touched everyone in attendance. This award in your son’s name, meant the world to both myself and my wife Angela, and especially our son Corbin. John’s story made a very positive impact on us and our son and again, we appreciate very much you allowing this to be given in John’s name.
We are very fortunate to have known John’s story through the coaches at Greater Atlanta Christian.
All the best to you and God Bless.
A NOTE FROM NATE
John was always optimistic and brought a laugh to anyone who was with him.
Nate Talbot
IF LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONS…MAKE IT A PARTY
One of the things I took away from hanging with John was that every moment can be exciting, as long as you look at it from the right angle.
He would always be doing something; he never stood still. An average day for him would be deconstructing an entertainment center and turning it into a go-kart or taking an ordinary object and making it something better than it was. It reminds me that no matter what boring things in life are thrown at you, you can always turn it into something worth while. If life gives you lemons, don’t make lemonade, make it a party.
from a friend
CARSON ENCOUNTERS JOHN FOR THE 1ST TIME
My first encounter with John was in an English class our first semester of undergrads. He was a sight then. As I recall he had something of a short Mohawk at the time and that distinct John smile on his face. Our interactions were limited in those early days. I would see him in class or I would walk through the Haygood dorm and he would pass by…walking down the hall on his hands, just because. I found him quite amusing but thought that was basically the extent of him. He was the class clown who enjoyed keeping people on their toes. It was only later that I came to realize that there was a depth to John that few people can match. It was not until I happened across him one night as he was pouring over an assignment we had been given that I truly began to appreciate some of his other qualities. For me it was just another paper but for him it seemed something more. He threw so much of himself into every assignment he was given. But the scholarly world is not one that places much value on determination and effort; rather it is one that merely values results (primarily those that align with the Professor’s own views). And so it was not easy for John but he kept pushing forward. That is something I have always admired in him. That night and the countless others in which I would encounter him hard at work late into the evening caused me to drastically rethink my preconceptions of him. I was also amazed to find how gentle a person he actually was. He was a very strong guy (as I implied earlier he could walk on his hands as well as a normal person could walk on their feet) and he could look fairly tough when he wanted to but to his core he was a good-hearted person. I cannot recall a single time in which he lost his cool. But it was more than that. He had a way of disarming people who themselves were upset or stressed. You could not help but smile when John was around. He was an absolute joy.
I consider myself truly blessed to have shared in a piece of John’s life. From our time together in Dooley’s Dolls (our social club) to our partnership in art class (to this day the drawing I did of him hangs framed in my home) to our unexpected rooming together subsequent to the Branham fire when he and Clelia had to move in with me (an experience, although inconvenient at first, I would not trade for the world) John was a constant and welcomed presence. To this day I still cannot believe that he is gone. I mourn for my friend and I mourn for the loss of his potential, for truly the loss of John Keller is a loss to the whole world. People who possess his qualities of determination, strength, and will while at the same time kindness, calmness, and charm, are rare indeed.
I miss John!
MEMORIES FROM JASON SULLIVAN
I first met John at Oxford college, and yes I thought something was wrong with him, then I realized we were all just trying to have fun (and learn of course). He helped teach me a couple chords on his Silver Fender 6 string, which at the time only had 5 strings.
Once at Oxford our social club Sigma Gamma and some guys from middle east (our dorm) threw water balloons at some of Dolls another social club, as a joke. Many of the members were a little “upset”, but John and I just laughed about it.
I am sure there are many more things that would make us laugh and cry that happened at OC, but they will go unspoken for now.
One of my last great memories with john was Spring Break while at main Campus. It was 4 of us, and we were both couples so it worked out very well. My girlfriend at the time and Cle kind of had to find something to do, because for almost three days straight, John and I occupied our time by building a man couch on the beach. You see this was no ordinary couch; we designed it to face the sunset, and even had sand foot rests. By the third day it we had onlookers and even some of the residents on the beach had tried out our man couch in the mornings. I think this sticks in my mind so strongly because while everyone knows everyone at Oxford, I never got to spend that much time with him until we were off campus together. We were almost able to talk our girlfriends into agreeing to let us rent a Harley for the Day, we did not, and that may have been a good thing.
John was a great guy, and he will be missed by many. We always joked that we were stuck in the ” Emory Bubble”, but I think it really had more to do with all the great people we surrounded ourselves with, people like John. Love you man…
SCOOTERS AND TREE CLIMBING
Dear John,
I’ve been thinking of what I would say to you if I had one last chance to talk to you again. But its been over one year and every attempt I’ve made to find the “right words” only leads me to remember the good times I had the privilege to share with you. I’ve realized that finding the right words to say goodbye wouldn’t make the sadness in my heart go away, it wouldn’t bring closure to your departure, it wouldn’t do justice to honoring the life you lived. The thing is, I don’t want to say goodbye. I don’t want to move on with living my life knowing that you will not be here to continue yours. I think that I couldn’t find the right words to say goodbye to you because I’m not supposed to, none of us are, you wouldn’t want us to. Your life should be remembered every time I see a scooter, each time I pass a seemingly impossible tree to climb, and even with every trial/ challenge I face.
Things haven’t been going well these past few months. In fact it’s been unbearable, it’s broken me and has even lead me to question my faith in God. But every time I wanted to ask God “why?,” I would think of you. From the time you were first diagnosed, until the moment you left to be with our Father, not once do I remember you question, object, or doubt the path God had for your life. I will forever be grateful to you for your faith and how it has helped give me the strength to get through these times.
I hate, truly hate with a passion, that it takes circumstances like this to make us realize how truly amazing an individual is to walk in such faith or to stand in humility of the true perfection of God’s power. Through the strength and faith of your life, my prayer will be that I, that all of us who were blessed to know you John Lewis Keller, will walk with blind faith the path that our Father has for each of us, just as you did.
To the Keller Family,
I pray for you the strength of Jesus everyday. Thank you for the love and discipline that influenced John to become a man of integrity and joy. It has been one of the greatest blessings to know your son.
Thank you and God bless,
Rachael Han
A TRUE INSPIRATION…
Thanks to John Keller who talked our son Chad into trying out for pole vaulting with him at Greater Atlanta Christian School, Chad found a sport that he excelled. John was a very strong athlete, and through his perserverance and with the coaching of Cook Holliday, John achieved many wins.
I always remember my oldest son Matt talking about John’s hands during the years he was a gymnast. John practiced hours every day, and Matt would talk about the blisters on Johns hands. I believe John practiced before and after school daily. His ongoing determination to succeed was inspiring to all his classmates.
John lived a great distance from our home and when he started driving I remember my son, Matt, spending what seemed like hours directing John to our home. To me this was just another example of John’s determination to complete the mission.
Our family loved John beyond words and we miss him so very much.
IS THIS STORY YOUR CHILD?
Dear Special Friends,
This will be long and there is no obligation, however, you would not be receiving this if I believed that you were not willing to help your children, our children, and the future of life-long learners. So please read on. All of you know me, many of you knew John Keller, some of you did not. This is not just about John Keller, GACS grad in 2002. All of us have something in common even if you did not teach or did not know John Keller.
This can be a story about your child and his/her needs. Because you know your child, then you know John as well. We all have children with special needs in some way – you adopted, you gave birth, you were a coach, or you are a teacher – or, you simply knew John as a fine young man. John was a part of our Academic Support Program at GACS primarily because of his dyslexia and need for note-takers, and test support. He also possessed many talents unrelated to academics such as his athletic talents or his humor. I had the privilege of working with John for three years. Whether you knew John or not, what we share as parents and educators is the pain of convincing the world that our children are intelligent and productive in school, sports, music, art and many other ways. Invisible disabilities exist and
unfortunately are often ignored.
Because of unique insights with your own children, you are a very special group of people. I am asking a favor on behalf of John’s memory, on behalf of the tireless efforts of his parents, and on behalf of the need to educate the most educated – the colleges and universities federally funded to provide help for our students through their faculty, advisors, and program coordinators. Unadvertised or hidden from our students are the federally funded programs which help students with learning disabilities and other visible or invisible differences after they leave high school. Additionally, it is true that the insensitivity to our children in colleges by their professors is a huge problem. Funded ‘academic support like’ programs are available for every institution of higher learning, however, the professors often ignore or disregard student needs because of ignorance about learning style differences. I am asking you to think about your own child’s future needs and how that might look when he/she is unable to have your support after age eighteen in college. Just a little disturbing isn’t it, even if your child has become a wonderful advocate for their special needs?
John Keller’s mother and father would have proudly advocated for John at Emory at Oxford and at Emory University’s main campus from which he graduated, but they could not because he was eighteen. John received nominal or minimal help with regard to his needed accommodations, with some exceptions. John did become his own advocate and we appreciate the need for our children and students to prepare for this. However, as parents, we are on a ‘wing and a prayer’ when our own children reach this level of education. If professors and sponsors at this level are not cooperative, then our children will be working in college level studies, as well as maintaining a part-time job to convince their professors and graduate assistants to understand their special needs – just as John experienced. In spite of obstacles, John, persevered and was successful. But there is more to this story.
For John this was particularly difficult because he was also battling cancer, discovered just after he graduated from Emory. John worked at CDC before he passed. A great blessing to John was a wonderful young woman, Clelia Pezzi, with whom he fell in love and married just prior to his death. Clelia, an honor student at Emory, was a tremendous voice for John with his professors in the last year or so. Sadly, she should not have needed to speak on his behalf to professors, but she was tireless and so was John. John’s need for extended time on tests, copies of notes or note-takers, accommodations for his dyslexia and other special needs, including his illness, created a
desire on her part to further explain his situation.
I am asking you to help by going to John’s website, connecting to Emory from that website, and advocating your child’s needs now and what you envision for the future for your child. There is no shame in sharing your concerns about funds available which might not be offered openly; or your fears regarding insensitive professors who are uneducated about learning disabilities. This tells your child’s story!
I will be contributing comments in regard to my experiences with my own children and my students. I hope you will help Angel and Ben Keller, John’s parents, as well as his wife, by telling your story and making your concerns known regarding the on-going needs of our children at the higher education level. The emphasis should not only include the need for more sensitivity on the part of professors and those in positions of power, but the mandate to appropriately use federal funds available to their institution. Let them know you are looking for good colleges and universities where reputation precedes the decision to attend their institution.
This will require very little of your time(less than what it took to read this) and with your heartfelt concerns for your own children, your students, or your athletes, know that you will become a brilliant spray of light, not only in honor of John, but to benefit those who will follow him.
John Keller passed from this earth in August, 2008. We miss him, but he can live on through you by your contribution and testimony – your child’s story. Students with special needs will benefit if each of us spend a small moment in time to describe and recommend our children’s need for accommodations, also their gifts and successes with the help of higher education institutions such as Emory.
Now, please take the time and leave your story about your child and his needs.
Many blessings to each of you…pass this on if you know of someone else who has a story to tell.
Brenda
Brenda Walker
LD Specialist
Greater Atlanta Christian School
The Academic Support program at Greater Atlanta Christian School was honored to present two individuals the John Lewis Keller Memorial Award. GACS presents this award to honor John’s memory and his accomplishments. The award is presented to those who exhibit an outstanding work ethic, a passion to learn, an understanding of learning strengths, perseverance in the face of challenges, and a Godly character. We had two outstanding ladies who we were thrilled to honor in John’s memory–Madison Moellering and Erin Swirk.
Maddison Moellering is a junior at Greater Atlanta Christian School. Three words that best describe her are courageous, conscientious and committed. As a dance instructor, Maddison enjoys influencing and encouraging young women through the art of dance. Following her high school graduation in 2011 and with a personal understanding of adversity, Maddison will pursue a career in working with students who face learning challenges.
Erin Swirk is also a junior at Greater Atlanta Christian School. Dedicated, diligent and determined are three words that best describe Erin. Erin has an incredible work ethic which is quickly evident in the classroom and throughout the school. As a varsity cheerleader, Erin demonstrates her strength of character and conviction through her leadership at GACS. Following her 2011 graduation, Erin will pursue in career in food and health services at North Georgia College.
Coach Holliday presents the John Keller Lewis Award in Track and Field to Nick Chizeka and to Claire Godson.
A note from Nick Chizek:
My name is Nick Chizek and I received the John Keller Award at the GACS Track and Field Banquet. I am honored that my coaches think I have a work ethic similar to John’s. Coach Holliday talked about how John was always willing to work and spent many hours after practice becoming a better athlete. Coach Holliday also said that one of John’s favorite sayings was, “Heads you win, tails you lose, it all depends on which one you choose.” I will try to follow John’s example by always trying to choose heads. I am thankful that John continues to be such a great example for all of Greater Atlanta Christian School’s students.
Respectfully,
Nick Chizek
Thank you from Claire Goodson
My name is Claire Goodson and I also received the John Keller Award at the GACS Track and Field Banquet. After 6 years of working with Coach Holliday, I have heard many great things about John. I am honored to be given this award because John was such a hard worker and a great athlete. GACS is very lucky to have a coach like Coach Holliday because for me he has been such an inspiration, and I know he also inspired John. This award is to be cherished because of what it stands for and who it is named after. Anyone who receives this award should truly feel honored because John was such an amazing man and athlete. It is amazing that this award is given to be an example to GAC’s students and all other students.
Clelia’s Speech to GACS:
I deeply regret not being able to have the honor of addressing you directly, but I am glad that I can still be a part of this celebration of John’s life and accomplishments during the awarding of the first annual John Lewis Keller Memorial Award for Academic Achievement.
John was the sort of person about whom people love to tell stories – stories about how funny and mischievous, how strong and brave, how caring and considerate he was. John lived such a full and eventful life that there are many, many stories I could share with you in order to give you insight into John’s personality, his strengths, his character, his faith, and how much he touched my life (and the lives of so many others). However, it would take the next 25 years to tell you all about John, so I will try, instead, to highlight for you the aspects of his character that I always found most admirable and inspiring.
One of the first things I noticed about John, aside from his sparkling personality and good looks, was his modesty. John was an extraordinary athlete throughout his childhood and high school – a state champion gymnast, tennis ace, and pole vault record holder. A fierce competitor, he once told me he preferred individual sports to team sports because he liked to take full responsibility for his successes or failures. However, his impressive accomplishments were something he rarely mentioned. I learned about his athletic prowess through his proud parents and by stumbling across ribbons, trophies, and plaques lying casually somewhere on top of a skateboard or under his guitar.
John was also an exceptionally committed student who worked amazingly hard to overcome two severe disabilities: extreme dyslexia and attention deficit disorder. In high school he also had to begin learning to cope with a chronic, debilitating, physical condition, Crohn’s disease, which attacked him when he was only fifteen years old and stayed with him for the rest of his life. Despite many hurdles, he did so well in high school that he earned a spot at Emory University, where he graduated with a major in English and a minor in Sociology – quite an accomplishment for someone for whom reading was always tremendously difficult!
John was very stoic and almost never complained. He always managed to find a joke in even the most unpleasant of situations. During flare-ups of his Crohn’s Disease, he would be incapacitated for weeks, doubled over in excruciating pain, on a highly limited diet of liquids. I can count on only one hand the number of times that he ever complained – then – or later, when he was undergoing frequently uncomfortable, painful, sometimes debilitating, treatments for the cancer which eventually took his life.
John was extraordinarily brave and that bravery influenced everyone around him. His strength and quiet determination gave me the courage and backbone I needed in order to support him through our bleakest, most hopeless days. I attribute much of this bravery to the strong, personal faith, which he maintained throughout his battle with cancer. His faith was something that had always impressed me. It seemed to guide him through life, giving him a sense of purpose and direction possessed by few other people. I believe that that faith gave him the comfort and strength to face everything he had to endure before he passed away. I never heard him question why he had to experience two such difficult illnesses or why his promising young life was being cut so short.
John truly enjoyed life. I have never met anyone that was as happy, hilarious, and alive to the world as John was. As I said, he could always find humor in any situation. He always took advantage of every opportunity he had – getting everything he could out of every day. He never seemed tired or bored – if he had time on his hands he would embark upon projects like recording music, making video films, building furniture, painting ridiculous pictures, fixing up his Toyota MR2, working out, scootering around Atlanta, or caring for his salt-water fish tank. John did not sit around waiting for things to happen; he went looking for them.
John was always the life of the party. Everyone enjoyed being around him because his humor and happiness were infectious. Some of my favorite memories of John are of him dressed as Spiderman doing back flips during halftime at my college soccer games, skateboarding with the children of a Sudanese refugee family we assisted in Atlanta, and walking on his hands down the hallways of his dorm. He made friends everywhere he went. I feel so lucky to have had a special place in his life. The five years that we were together positively and profoundly affected my life. John had the same effect on the lives of many of our friends and loved ones.
If I could give each one of you here today a little advice, it would be this: live like John did. Have a strong faith to sustain you through difficult times and give you courage. Work hard to accomplish your dreams and set high goals, but be modest when acknowledging your accomplishments. In tough situations, don’t waste time complaining – look for solutions or silver linings instead. Get as much as you can out of every day you are alive. John did not know how little time he would have, but he certainly got as much life out of his 25 years as he could. If there is something you want to do, do it. Don’t wait. And be nice to everyone.
John Lewis Keller was truly a special and remarkable person. His oncologist, a busy Emory physician who has treated thousands of cancer patients, pulled me aside one day toward the end of John’s struggle with cancer. He told me that he had never met anyone who approached an illness the way that John had, and that he would never forget us. He stated that John was “an incredible young man.” Many other people have said the same thing to me, and it is true. John was an astonishingly incredible young man! I feel very blessed and am tremendously grateful to have had the time with John that I had. I am also extremely glad to be a part of the Keller family, whose generosity has made today’s award possible.
Thank you so much for your time,
Clelia
Cle-
Well put. You two were certainly meant to be together… I think about him (and you) often. We all need to live more like John did. :)
Always,
Teri (“Granny T”)
Clelia your tribute to John is beautiful and heartfelt. Our family only knew John briefly before he was taken from us but we have such fond memories of our time with him.
John helped me out on several occasions as a babysitter, housesitter and petsitter. Kids will quickly ascertain what type of person you are and whether they will warm up to you and I have to say with both my kids, they adored him almost immediately. John and Clelia also did some housesitting for us. We had an eccentric border collie (along with several cats) that we couldn’t leave at the kennel because the dog was difficult with most people but not with John. He definitely had a way with both our kids and our animals. In reading through the tributes he was and continues to be an inspiration to many people and we were lucky to have known John.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 – 09:15 PM
I still think about John every now and then. When I heard about his death from my mom over a decade ago, I was having a very tough time with my own life and was too self absorbed with solving my own problems to be able to comprehend what the world had lost.
I met John on my first day of school in 1st grade. I was a big baby, crying like a scared little kid. Everyone in that classroom looked at me like I was a freak, except John, who came over and immediately tried to make me laugh. He did. I stopped crying and we were best friends for a few years. We got into unbelievable trouble together. It’s actually great that we grew apart after that because I would have been a horrible influence on him. I remember ripping my pinky toe off at his house in a horrifying accident when I spent the night once. Yeah, we got into real trouble as kids. The last time I saw him was when my high school played a football game at GACS. He was decked out in punk rock gear and had a Mohawk. I actually gained a little street cred with all the other cadets at Riverside Military Academy.
Whenever I had to face a seemingly insurmountable obstacle in my life. I would think to myself “dude, man up. What would John Keller do?” To this day, 7 year old John Keller is what I strive to be as a man. There isn’t enough time to tell you all the incredible things I got to do in life, and you wouldn’t believe half of them, but I still feel like I’m not quite good enough to match the quality of person that 7 year old John Keller was. I’m 37 and I think I’m almost there.
Knowing what I know now about people, I realize that John was incredibly intelligent. Even with Dyslexia holding him back, he still would have been 10x the man I am if he was with us today. I will never forget him as long as I live. I tell my 11 year old niece and 6 year old nephew stories about me and John every now and then. I am always the example of what you want to do when your feelings and emotions take over. John is always the example of what you should do instead. If I could could give some of my years of life to John so that he would have lived just a little bit longer, I would do it. I can’t help but feel that John is watching over me and lending me strength, laughing that heartwarming laugh of his and trying to make me feel better when I’m overwhelmed with life. I’m over a decade late, but like I said, I will always remember John Lewis Keller.