Seguin police chief’s wife loses battle with cancer

Mary Gayle Kelso, wife of Seguin Police Chief and Gonzales native Kevin Kelso, passed away Saturday aft er a long battle with cancer.

“She was loved by her whole police family, and we will miss her,” Seguin Police Capt. Maureen Watson said Monday. Cindy Aguirre-Herrera with Seguin radio station KWED 1580 AM reported that “for the last couple of years, the community, in a variety of ways, stood behind the Kelso family as members and friends walked alongside this fight with Mary.”

Guadalupe County Clerk Teresa Kiel, a devoted friend of the Kelso family, put together with her husband Ken a large fundraising effort for the family. Mary was working in Teresa’s office when she was first diagnosed with the illness. Teresa remembered Mary, who passed on at just 49 years of age, as being more than just an employee – that she was a friend and an amazingly strong and loving woman.

“Mary had the most contagious personality,” Teresa said. “She was so full of life and made everyone in the office laugh on a daily basis. I’ll never forget the day she came into my office to share her cancer news. We were both scared and brave at the same time. The normal boss/employee relationship quickly became more personal. We laughed and cried many times, but always hugged each other until we were laughing about how she was going to beat this. She was a ‘fighter’ from the very beginning and I knew she wouldn’t give up. She was so strong and rarely shared her pain with us. She made every effort to make it to the office as much as possible. She loved her co-workers and was fighting to come back to work.”Teresa also said that Mary’s continuous fighting back proved that she was a fighter beyond a shadow of a doubt.

“After a bone marrow transplant in November 2012, she seemed to be recovering well,” Teresa said. “She was able to come home in December and surprised us at our county clerk’s annual appreciation dinner showing up for an hour or so. We were all so happy to see her and she seemed to be doing well. Her health took a down turn a few days aft er being home when she began having serious issues with [additional complications.] She was admitted back into the hospital for a very long stay. When I would visit her, she said she was not ready to go and was going to continue to fight to come back to work; that there were so many things left that she wanted to do. She was in and out of the hospital again and this last time, her body was just too weak to continue the toll. She had been unconscious for the past two weeks or more and was moved into intensive care during that time. All life support efforts were removed from her Friday evening and she went to be with our Lord about 24 hours later.”

During the year-long fundraising endeavor, it was Ken who expedited some of the live and silent auctions as well as other fundraising events held at the Guadalupe County Fairgrounds. Ken said Mary put up such a valiant fight and will truly be missed.

“My heart hurt for her during the down times and it was frustrating that all the positive steps in her recovery were followed a couple of steps backward,” Ken told KWED. I would rather dwell on the good memories since Mary began her battle."

“When I decided to get involved in her fundraiser after Teresa told me that Dalena Krueger and Monica White were going to put something together, it was truly one of the most remarkable times of my life. So many of the Kelso’s friends and our friends decided to help the Kelso family and it was amazing how help kept coming every day for the month that we worked on her fundraiser. The fundraising committee led to some lifelong friendships for me and the effort of everyone bordered on superhuman at times. I would go into Teresa’s office to update Dalena and Monica on items and donations that kept fl owing in and Mary’s office was right next to Monica’s so I would ‘tease’ Mary with ‘you won’t believe what we got today’. “She would just smile so big and shake her head,” Teresa said. “I also think of her during the day of the fundraiser and her big smile and her comments how ‘unbelievable’ the whole event was. She was worn out by the end of the night but still had to get out on the dance floor and dance to Bon Jovi.”

Teresa said if there was anything that Mary learned on that big fundraiser day, it was that the community of Seguin dearly loved and supported her and her family.

“She was so proud to see the entire community, her family and friends, and even people who did not know of Mary before that day show up for her fundraiser,” she said. “She just kept saying how unbelievable [the fundraiser] was. She was so amazed with all the love shown for her that day and the days following. They say, people come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. I’m so glad Mary came into mine. She was truly an inspiration - an amazing, loving woman that continued to smile through it all.”