Artris Searle Kelone, 91
Funeral services celebrating the life of Mr. Artris Searle Kelone will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, May 8, 2024 in the chapel of Hixson Brothers Funeral Home, Marksville. Burial with military honors will be conducted at French Cemetery in Effie, under the direction of the United States Air Force, Barksdale. Arrangements are entrusted to Hixson Brothers Funeral Home, Marksville.
Artris Searle Kelone passed away at age 91 on April 18th, 2024 at his daughter's home in Texas.
Artris was born in 1932 in Effie, Louisiana. After highschool graduation, he joined the Air Force and set out to see the world, serving as a plane mechanic in Korea and Japan with the 95th Bomb Squadron. On his return to the U.S., he trained to be a telegraph operator at Midwest College of Commerce. He was working in Arkansas at one of his first postings with the Rock Island railroad, when he met a pretty waitress serving him his lunch -- He and Mary Lee were married on June 28th, 1958, and spent the next 63 years together until Mary passed away in 2021.
While raising their children Paul David, Larry, and Jadenda, they moved from Arkansas to Oklahoma to Louisiana, finally settling down in Pine Prairie. Over the next decades, Artris and Mary designed a home inspired by the historic Cajun building styles of the region. From custom milling the cypress lumber to adding in 'secret' passageways for the grandkids, Artris just about built the house himself from the ground up. Creating this 'home place', where family came together and kids roamed the house and woods, was one of Art and Mary's most cherished accomplishments.
Artris was curious. He was always in motion, mind and body, tinkering with something whether it be brewing his own wine, making yogurt, planting something unusual in the garden, treating his own honey allergy (yes really!), creating a Frankenstein style lawn mower, or doing some digging that inevitably got the tractor hopelessly bogged down. There wasn't a thing he couldn't build, make, or fix.
Art loved being in nature and always felt sorry for the poor 'city folks' who didn't get to live like he did. He found beauty in places where other people might overlook it. He once rescued orphaned baby possums from the roadside and hand fed them so they could be released. He enjoyed picking up a handful of plain looking rocks, putting them in the rock tumbler and wondering what might come out. His happy place was going fishing, although it sometimes seemed it was never about catching fish as much as it was about looking out at the water, being quiet for a little while, and listening.
Art loved people -- He never met a person he wasn't genuinely interested in getting to know. He had enduring friendships from his Air Force days that lasted for the next 60 years. And he never walked past someone in need of help, be they family, friend, or stranger.
At the end, after years of dementia's insidious erosion had worn away almost everything else, Artris still loved Mary and refused to remove his wedding band. So, although we will deeply miss him as our friend, neighbor, family member, Dad, and Papa, we take comfort that through their faith in Christ, Art and Mary are now reunited in a happier place.
Artris was preceded in death by his mother Pearl Miller, his father Kermit Kelone, his siblings Velena McGuffin and Donna Bird.
Artris is survived by his children Paul David Kelone (Denise Kelone), Larry Kelone (Gigi Obren), Jadenda Prochaska (Joel Prochaska); his grandchildren Amanda Strong (Maarten Cappaert), Brandon Kelone, James Prochaska (Lexi Kjorlien), Dustin Kelone; and his great-granddaughter Nova Cappaert.
The family requests that visitation be observed on Wednesday, May 8, 2024 from 10:00 a.m. until the time of chapel services at Hixson Brothers, Marksville.
Pallbearers honored to serve will be Paul David Kelone, Larry Kelone, Joel Prochaska, James Prochaska, Bobby Towne, and Steve Bird. Honorary pallbearers will be Maarten Cappaert and Richard Bird.
Donations in lieu of flowers may be made to the Lewey Body Dementia Fund, athttps://www.americanbrainfoundation.org/lbd
To extend online condolences to the Kelone family, please visit us online at www.hixsonbrothers.com