Gladys "Jackie" Kehl

Gladys “Jackie” Kehl, age 89, longtime and dedicated resident of Mt. Carroll, passed away Friday, April 21, 2023 at FHN Hospital in Freeport, Illinois. A funeral service will be held 1pm, Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at Law Jones Funeral Home in Mt. Carroll with Pastor Steven Newell officiating. Burial will be in Oak Hill Cemetery, Mt. Carroll, followed by a luncheon at the First Baptist Church. Visitation will be held 11am – 1pm Wednesday, May 3, 2023, prior to the service at the funeral home.

Jackie was born December 3, 1933, in West Union, Iowa, the daughter of Clarence and Vira (Voshell) Ewing. On June 2, 1951, Jackie married Melvin Kehl in Mt. Carroll. They worked as a team raising children and supporting their community. Jackie and Mel celebrated 59 years of marriage until Melvin’s passing in 2011.

Jackie worked as a waitress, beautician, lineworker at Burgess Battery and a courthouse Bailiff at the Carroll County Courthouse. She was a member of the American Legion Auxiliary . She loved being a Mom and was a Cub Scout and Girl Scout Leader for several years. She also taught Sunday School at the Baptist Church for many years.

Jackie will be dearly missed by her loving family, two daughters, Judy (John) Avampato of Freeport and Dawn Beyer and Dan Speaker of Mt. Carroll; foster daughter, Paula White; 7 grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren; a brother, Cecil Ewing of Tennessee. Jackie is preceded in death by her husband; three children, Diane, Duane and Karl; two sisters, Dorothy Adams and Ruth McMinamin and a brother, Robert Ewing; and both parents.