Their Story
Remembering Kelly Schuetz.
As soon as Kelly could stand, she began running through life. She was born August 10, 1988 in Naples, Florida to Joe and Rita Schuetz, and died September 25, 2022. She quickly proved herself a feisty, intelligent and caring little girl, afraid of nothing. As she grew, Kelly excelled in the classroom while participating in various sports, clubs and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
After moving with her parents to various cities around the country, Kelly found a new home in Tallahassee, graduating in 2006 from Chiles High School. While at Chiles, Kelly was a member of the National Honor Society, the Spanish Club and a two-sport letterman.
Upon graduation, Kelly was accepted to the United States Air Force Academy, graduating with honors in 2010. After receiving her commission, Kelly served her country at various posts of duty, both home and abroad, rising to the rank of Major. During her career, Kelly also served a tour of duty in Afghanistan as an Intelligence Officer.
Her final assignment was as Director of Operations in the Air Force Cyber-Intelligence Unit. On September 25, 2022, Kelly began a new life with perfect, eternal love.
Kelly is survived by her parents, sisters Eva (Malcolm) Hawker, Erika (Kevin) King and Dr. Elisa (Mark) Schuetz, and six nieces and nephews.
Kelly was beloved by all of her friends and family and known as selfless, generous, thoughtful and hard-working. She had a smile that would light up the night and her loss can never be replaced.
In remembrance, from Corey McCumber (October 4, 2022):
“I was 29, married and on my 9th deployment. I'd been the low man and the guy in charge. I knew the difference between doing your job and running the shop. I was in charge of flight operations and would check on the training shop to check on things and cherry picked the troops that did well for special projects.
That's when I met Kelly. She out ranked me and knew it but respected my experience. I pulled her into a special access program and she excelled. I could spend hours explaining how much smarter she was than me, how much better she was than any of us but it comes out to what everyone already knows : Kelly was the best of all of us.”
Here’s a toast.