|
Kelly Owen Slade 
July 23, 1947 - April 3, 2022
On Sunday, April 3, 2022, Kelly Owen Slade passed away at the age of 74. Kelly was born July 23, 1947, in Durango, Colorado to Virgil and Mell Harris Slade. Later, his family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada where Kelly graduated from Las Vegas High School, class of 1965.
Kelly attended law school at St. Mary's University in San Antonio, Texas. During his law career, Kelly worked as a public defender, in private practice and as a Justice of the Peace in the Municipal Court for 12 years. As a lifelong member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Kelly enjoyed serving in various capacities including serving a mission in Canada, Counselor in the Bishopric and as a Stake High Councilman.
He married Karen Christensen in 1974, and together they have four children: Emily (Greg) Meyer, Sam (Meesha) Slade, Jack (Laura) Slade and Marilyn (Chris) Spillers. Kelly is survived by his current wife, Edna Slade (married in 2016), his four children and their spouses, 13 grandchildren and his siblings: Torrey Slade, Tona Farris, Tara Slade, Stacy Slade, Jena Iverson and Tysa Slade.
Services will be held on April 23, 2022, at Palm Northwest Mortuary located at 6701 N Jones Blvd. The viewing will be held from 9 a.m. until 11 a.m. with the memorial service to immediately follow until noon.
Published on April 7, 2022
|
Craig Jolley
My earliest memory of Kelly was his baseball card scrapbook that met the requirement for a Boy Scout merit badge. The cards were glued into place, a desecration to me since you couldn't see the backs, not to mention the cards couldn't be handled, let alone traded. He broke his leg around that time. To compensate for his lack of mobility when we played backyard basketball he was allowed to wave a crutch around the basket to block shots. As with the Preeces our families paralleled kid-wise--Kelly and I were oldest followed by brothers two years younger and also good friends, then younger sisters. Kelly's wonderful mother Mell was best friends with my mom, and the families would go on outings together, mainly water skiing at Lake Mead. He married into an influential family that helped him launch his political career after law school. Running for re-election as justice of the peace in fall, 1982 the event coincided with my first marriage as performed by his father Virgil, a LDS bishop. Kelly hilariously showed up at our backyard reception wearing a prominent campaign button, went around shaking hands with everybody. I heard his opponent started slinging mud which cost Kelly the election. Kelly and Mell attended my mother's 2013 funeral. I was pleased to chat with them, encouraged him to start attending our class reunions (the web site was not in place yet). He never did, no idea the reason. The main thing about Kelly--he was in favor of having a good time, always in positive spirits.