Mr. Jeff Howard Schell

Jeff Howard Schell, 67, was born March 18, 1955, and lived until he didn’t on May 17, 2022, after a long 3 ½ year battle with multiple myeloma. He is preceded in death by his mother, Florence Schell and father Robert Schell. He is survived by his wife of 28 years, Ellen; his brother, Mike (Kathy) Schell of Brandon; sister, Marion Klause of Park City, Utah; his children, Jillian Schell of Castle Rock, Colorado, and Jon Schell of Denver, Colorado; along with his stepchildren, Elizabeth Pickering (Chris) Jennings of Florence and Michael Pickering of Florence, MS. He had eight grandchildren and loved them all so fiercely that each one probably thinks that they are his favorite, but surprise! they’re each his favorite. He spent his alleged adult life working as a sign painter with his father Robert (Bob) Schell, as a house painter and then as part of the remediation team at Rocky Flats, addressing aqueous waste at the site near Boulder, CO where they once made nuclear triggers. In a facility which ran 24/7, he became the relief supervisor working all the other supervisors’ “weekends”, which resulted in his having to change his sleep cycle schedule every 2-3 days, for years, continuing and enforcing a lifelong habit of never getting enough sleep. There were simply too many other interesting and important things to be doing at random times of the day and night. After retiring from Rocky Flats, he thought he would continue in this line of work, but ultimately determined that moving would take him away from his children and that was just not acceptable! So, he became a bus operator for the Regional Transportation District in Denver, before transferring to the sign shop, where he worked until he retired in 2018. But his real passion, and lifelong addiction was guitars and guitar accessories. He started playing at age 12 and never got over it. He practiced as often as he could and all his family and many neighbors got to experience his diligence and patience while learning new songs, particularly the difficult sections that had to be played over and over… and over, so that his fingers would remember and the rest of us would be begging him to “JUST FINISH THE DANG SONG!” He loved to play, loved to learn, loved jokes and puns, reading or listening to books and watching movies, especially those involving cowboys, spies, space and magic. He loved the outdoors, camping, biking, swimming, canoeing, but later acknowledged that both he and his last dog, Bilbo Waggins, were actually inside men. He had a really good sense of direction and could find his way around in unfamiliar cities as if by magic. He enjoyed traveling new and unfamiliar routes to add to his inner map collection. When he first began treatment at the medical mall, he took note of the people there and how dreary so many seemed to be. He decided to reverse the trend in part, by adopting bright Hawaiian shirts instead of his habitual gray and black. He hoped he might be remembered as the crazy man in the wheelchair, wearing loud colors and shorts, even in the dead of winter. He would usually answer the question “How are you?” by replying “Feeling Fat and Sassy!” So, if you’re able to attend his memorial service, you will see his family members in the bright shirts he chose and if you would like to wear something like that with us, you’re encouraged to do so. We think he would love it - he was color blind. The family will receive friends for visitation on Saturday, May 21st from 1:00 p.m. until the Memorial Service that will begin at 2:00 p.m. in the chapel of Chancellor Funeral Home in Florence. In lieu of flowers, the family request memorials be made to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society | P.O. Box 98011 | Washington, DC 20077-7020.