When the going gets tough, you turn to those closest to you to find love and support. You turn to friends, wives, sons, daughters, nieces, nephews, and husbands. But what if the unthinkable happens? What if the person, who you’ve always been able to go to, to find that comfort, support, and love was suddenly taken from you? Who do you turn to then? For Kelly Welch, the unthinkable did happen.

 

            On September 2, 2013, her entire world was flipped completely upside down. Her high school sweetheart, her rock, her entire world for 30+ years suddenly went missing.

 

            Kelly’s husband, Dave Welch, passed away as a result of a single car accident near Green River, Utah, nearly 8 weeks after he first went missing.

 

            Kelly had to adjust. Adjust to life without someone who had been right by her side for over 30 years. She had to adjust and learn how to live this new, foreign life that had been so suddenly thrust upon her.

 

            Kelly had to lean on those closest to her for support and comfort following this unimaginable tragedy. She had to lean on her family.

 

            Family has two meanings to Kelly Welch. There’s her family, as in her 4 sons, their wives and children, and the rest of her immediate family. And then there’s her other family…the K-State Family.

 

            This isn’t the first time that the K-State Family has provided support for Kelly. When she was battling 2 bouts of cancer in the 1990’s, the K-State Family went above and beyond.

            “I didn’t make a meal for 4 months. Students brought meals to this house…they had a sign-up sheet I didn’t even know existed! They had a sign-up sheet to take my kids to piano lessons and guitar lessons and all their sports things and I didn’t even know that sign-up sheet existed…they just organized that on their own!” Kelly said.

 

            She talked about how to this day that her kids still look up to certain members of the K-State Family and several past student athletes for the support that they provided during the time that Kelly was battling cancer. She remains so forever grateful for the support that the K-State Family has provided.

            “They would take them for a Diet Coke. They took my kids to Sonic. They mentored them when they were at a very scary place in their lives,” Kelly said.

 

            Kelly will be the first one to tell you that the K-State family mentality is not just a saying or motto, but that it’s a VERY real thing that has been instrumental in not only her time here at K-State as a professor but during her own personal battles and healing processes.

            “In my heart, I believe that all things happen for a reason. I’m at K-State for a reason. I have my K-State Family for a reason. Dave was taken for a reason. I can go on because of my kids, because of my faith, and because of my second family at K-State.”