Operation Deep Blue aims to raise $5K in honor of fallen McHenry County Deputy Jacob Keltner

March 7 marked five years since McHenry County Sheriff’s Deputy Jacob “Jake” Keltner was killed outside a Rockford motel while serving a search warrant.

His death has been memorialized in many ways since, including a highway exit and Crystal Lake neighborhood street renamed for him, blood drives and honor chairs on display at the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office in Woodstock.

The latest honor comes by way of a kayak.

Operation Deep Blue, a nonprofit charitable organization, was created to increase awareness of law enforcement officers, other first responders and military service members who have died in the line of duty, as well as raise funds to provide relief to their surviving family members, the group’s website says.

On Sept. 14 the fifth annual, 225-mile sea kayak expedition will set sail from Pennsville, New Jersey, and end seven days later with its planned arrival in Washington, D.C.

John Nawoichyk, 53, of Pearl River, New York, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel who served 25 years, is one of 16 kayakers participating this year. Each is riding in honor of a different person who has served in the military, as a police officer or other first responder. Nawoichyk is doing this, his third year in the event, in honor of Keltner, whom he never met. Nawoichyk only learned of Keltner’s story through a mutual friend.

Nawoichyk, who comes from a family of police officers, said he will wear a placard on his back during the event with Keltner’s picture and name. Nawoichyk said that since his friend, Army Major Tommy “TK” Kennedy died in 2012, he has participated in an annual physical challenge of some sort to raise money and awareness for Gold Star Families like Keltner’s. Kennedy died while serving in Kunar Province in Afghanistan, according to his online obituary; he was 35.

Nawoichyk started a GoFundMe in Keltner’s name and hopes to raise $5,000 – $1,000 for each year that Keltner, a 35-year-old married father of two children who lived in Crystal Lake, has been gone.

“The reason I do this really is to keep the people’s memories alive,” Nawoichyk said. “That is the most important thing. ... No one is truly dead until their name is spoken no more.”

In addition to remembering and raising awareness of fallen patriots, the program raises money to provide relief to Gold Star Families of military, law enforcement and first responders. The money raised will be donated to organizations that help pay for the needs of such families who have lost someone in the line of duty.

When he died, Keltner was working in his role with the U.S. Marshals Great Lakes Fugitive Task Force, part of a team executing a warrant for a man in a Rockford motel. As the man jumped out a third floor window he shot and struck Keltner, according to news reports at the time.

“Deputy Keltner represents all of the law enforcement officers who put themselves in harm’s way on a daily basis for our safety and security,” Nawoichyk said.

Last year, the sheriff’s office received two personalized, handcrafted Honor Chairs from Saving a Hero’s Place, one in memory of Keltner and the other in memory of Deputy Dwight Maness, who died in 2015 while recovering from being shot in the line of duty by a Holiday Hills man about a year earlier.

The annual Jake Keltner Memorial Blue Blood Drive – hosted by his family including wife Rebecca “Becki” Keltner – has collected countless units of blood given to the American Red Cross, according to past stories in the Northwest Herald. The blood drive began in 2019, months after his death.

A section of the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office parking lot in Woodstock also has been dedicated to Keltner, and the Route 23 and Interstate 90 interchange in Marengo has been named “Deputy Jacob Keltner Memorial Interchange.” A street leading into Keltner’s Crystal Lake neighborhood also has been renamed in his honor.

McHenry County Sheriff Robb Tadelman said such “unwavering” support over the last five years “means the world to this Office and the Keltner family.”

“The memory of Deputy Keltner lives on, not just in our department, but in the hearts of all who knew and respected him,” the sheriff said. “The continued dedication to honoring him, and others who sacrificed it all, serves as a powerful reminder that we stand together in the face of these tragic losses. Thank you to Operation Deep Blue for helping keep Deputy Keltner’s legacy alive.”

To donate to Operation Deep Blue, visit Op Deep Blue: Remember Deputy Keltner and all our Fallen or go to gofundme.com and search for “Jacob Keltner.” As of Tuesday the fund has raised $500 of the $5,000 goal. You can also donate at operationdeepblue.org.