Kelly John Margetts' Obituary
“Success is not measured in life by what you achieve, but by the obstacles you overcome” (to paraphrase a quote by Booker T. Washington)
An extraordinary child, Kelly John Margetts, was born June 20, 1966 to Gary J. Margetts and Susan Allred Margetts. Little did he realize the obstacles in life he would have to overcome until his passing on February 7, 2024 at Sandy Rehab in Sandy, Utah.
We look at the titans of industry, academia, and other fields and think they are the ones who have accomplished much in this life, but often we ignore the ordinary people who are quietly struggling every day with challenges that they bear gracefully (and sometimes not so gracefully) and think they have not done much with their lives.
Kelly was such a person. As a child, he was always a challenge with his constant defiance and trouble-making. He teased his only sibling, Jill, constantly, much to her consternation. “Telly pinched me,” she would say, as she turned around and asked for more. There was a life-long struggle between them, until the final months of his passing.
He could never live up to his father’s idea of what it meant to be successful, leading to much heartache and disappointment in Kelly’s life because his father did not understand him.
He drove his mother crazy at times with his anger and the unorthodox way he handled situations. His unorthodox behavior was a challenge for everyone who entered his life. This included his brief marriage to Socorro Rodriguez Mendoza from Mexico. Kelly had no children, which was probably a good thing.
But what we all didn’t know was that Kelly’s brain was not like ours. And as he aged, it became sicker and sicker to the point where his mental illness was eventually responsible for taking his very life. We all knew something was wrong, but we could not exactly put our finger on it, and Kelly refused to acknowledge that there was something the matter with him and get treatment. This affected every aspect of his life—his relationships, his employment, his health, and the way he lived.
Kelly was finally diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia on October 17, 2024, when he ended up in Salt Lake Regional Medical Center with necrotizing fasciitis, a flesh-eating bacteria, in his foot, which subsequently took his leg to a below-the-knee amputation, and four months later, his very life. But wait—there are silver linings to every tragic story, and this is one of them.
Kelly’s schizophrenia bloomed about age 12, when his parents divorced. He subsequently became uncontrollable, and at age 18, went out on his own, where he remained the rest of his life. Kelly was very intelligent, graduating from the University of Utah with degrees in Communications and Statistics. He worked in the Audio Visual field for a while and as a charming waiter at several restaurants, but again, his mental health issues interfered with his employment. His father bought him a home by Liberty Park, and Kelly paid him back every single cent, struggling to find employment and work odd jobs. But to his credit, somehow he did it!!
Kelly was very proud of his home. He loved going through the piles of trash that were left on the curb at city clean-up looking for “treasures” to adorn and fill his home with. Hoarding is a mental illness, too, but Kelly had an eclectic home of carefully arranged “stuff,” categorized and stored by the thousands in totes, file cabinets, boxes, and just adorning every wall, nook and cranny of his home. It was his life, and he loved it. It may all look like “junk” to you, but to his disordered mind, it was something he could use one day or give to someone else as a wonderful Christmas present after he refurbished it. In his mind, he was being generous. And he was, because it was all he had to give at times.
He loved his animals—his dog, Simba, his cat, CattyBoy, and was worried about his beloved fish right up to the end. And they loved him in return.
You might think Kelly was a societal leech because he learned how to “work the system.” But there are safety nets out there for people like him. To his ultimate credit, he was never homeless or in jail. He was smart and inventive enough to find programs to help him remain in his home and survive, which is a huge accomplishment for someone like him. He knew someone very well at almost every government agency in town and they were well acquainted with him. And he never once asked his family for help—he did it all on his own and never complained about his situation in life. Many people with mental illness are homeless, in prison, and are shunned by society. It is one of the most misunderstood and undertreated maladies of our day.
Kelly had an eclectic group of friends who he hung with in Liberty Park. You would call them the riff-raff of society. But they all looked out and cared for one another, regardless of their stations in life. If they got food and couldn’t use it, they paid it forward to someone who could. It was “The Bread Lady” who would provide Kelly with food when he was short. He would never ask his family, so we are grateful for angels like this woman who helped him.
Kelly’s sister, Jill, was able to help him through the final months of his life and she did a superb job! Because his mother lived in St. George, Jill was there to make sure he was comfortable, listen to him, laugh with him and learn to love and appreciate him. She and her husband, Wes, were there when he passed away.
Kelly has been cremated and is now at peace. We honor his remarkable life and love hm. We hope you will look at the mentally ill people you see, whether homeless and sleeping in a park or begging on the streets and think of them in a different way—and be glad you are not carrying their burden of mental illness. It is a heavy burden.
Well done, Kelly. May you finally rest in peace.
Much Love, Mom
What’s your fondest memory of Kelly?
What’s a lesson you learned from Kelly?
Share a story where Kelly's kindness touched your heart.
Describe a day with Kelly you’ll never forget.
How did Kelly make you smile?