Relatives and friends of Patrick Kelly are remembering the 72-year-old diver as a friendly family man after his body was found in Lake Michigan on Wednesday.
Kelly, of Winthrop Harbor, went missing in Lake Michigan Tuesday after failing to resurface during a dive exploring a wreck several miles off Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin.
His body was recovered from the area near the SS Wisconsin on Wednesday morning, with the US Coast Guard using sonar and remotely operated robotic vehicles as part of the search.
Kelly’s friends at the Winthrop Harbor Yacht Club affectionately called him “PK.”
“PK was very friendly, no matter if it was a stranger walking through the door, he would greet you and make you feel welcome here,” said his friend Rich Boren.
An avid and experienced diver, Kelly was diving about six miles off the coast of the Wisconsin-Illinois border Tuesday morning near the wreck of the SS Wisconsin, which lies about 125 feet below the surface.
The SS Wisconsin was a steamship that sank in 1929 during a storm. Nine crew members lost their lives. The captain was pulled from the water but later died on shore, according to the Wisconsin Shipwrecks website.
Kelly was attempting to retrieve a severed line that could have posed a hazard to other divers and never completed his ascent.
“He’s done thousands of dives all over the world. He’s done hundreds, if not thousands, of dives at this particular site. He considered himself an expert on this site, a steward of this site,” said his friend Courtney Smith. “He made this selfless gesture to make sure there was no danger.”
Kelly’s relatives told NBC Chicago that “there aren’t enough superlatives” to describe the diver and longtime friend.
