Kelly Snowshoes Snowmobile Club
Life-Time Members
"I want to reach my potential,
impact my world,
and leave a legacy"
~Seth Buechley
It is an honor when someone is voted a “Life-Time Member” of the Kelly Snowshoes Snowmobile Club by our board. It means that person has been a long-time, active member, who has made significant contributions to the club in his/her own way. Membership dues are covered by the club for that person for life.
The first Kelly Snowshoes “Life-Time Member” was the late Dana Felch, the second was Jerry Bolf in 2015, and the third was Dennis Kleman in 2021. Feel free to read Jerry and Dennis' write ups below. Congratulations to these members for the dedication to our club.
Dennis Kleman, Life-Time Member (2021)
The most recent member to join this elite group is Dennis Kleman, the current President of Kelly Snowshoes. Dennis is 61 years young. He grew up in the Bevent, WI area and has lived in that area his entire life. He even helped build the trail system from Bevent to Weston. Dennis and his wife, Joan, are landowners themselves and live right alongside part of the Kelly Snowshoes trail near Bevent. In his words, “I chased Joan down in Green Bay and I’ve been married to the ‘love of my life’ since 1994.”
Dennis has been involved in snowmobiling since he was a young man. His Dad had three snowmobiles: a 1968 Ski Daddler by AMF, a 1970 Viking, and a Ski Whiz by Massey Ferguson. Dennis continued in this sport with many of his own sleds: a 1972 Rupp, a Ski-Doo Blizzard RV, a Mercury Trail Twister, an Arctic Cat Pro Lite, a Raider Twin Track (which you can roll over doing donuts!), a 1990 Ski-Doo Formula, and a 2001 Ski-Doo Grand Touring.
Dennis enjoys his Ski-Doo’s but he enjoys the sport of dirt bike racing as well so he has snow season and non-snow season both covered! He is very proud of his new dirt bike – a 2021 CRF250F Honda – and has been riding already this season. He and Joan also enjoy riding their 1992 Honda Goldwing Trike.
Over the years Dennis has dealt with some serious health issues, starting at age 17. In 1987 he had his first of two major surgeries where he spent 4 weeks in Mayo Clinic recovering. He had another long stay (20 days) after surgery at St Claire’s in 2011. While recovering from his second surgery, his actions likely led to his eventual role as Club President. He was well aware of the activities in the club, being a member since 1977, so he took the landowner list and contacted each and every one of them to gather information and put together an updated, more detailed landowner list. With his health challenges, Dennis has gone through a lot and, as a result, he appreciates this life we are given. He believes that anything is possible, you just need to go after what you want! Although he doesn’t know for sure what kept him fighting, he believes it is in part his “never give up attitude” and his faith in God.
In 2014, without having held a previous leadership role in the Club, Dennis was voted in as President. This likely was, in part, due to his knowledge of the entire landowner group. To this day Dennis knows each landowner by name when he runs into them. Dennis is a nervous perfectionist and that probably is what leads to him commenting to his close club member friends each year (maybe multiple times), “I’m going to retire!” But…he simply loves all things snowmobile club and with support to calm him, he keeps going because Dennis cares about the folks in the club, he wants the trails to be well-brushed and well-groomed with good signage, and he wants good communication with our landowners. He leads our club meeting, attends the County Meetings and knows the Presidents of the other clubs in the surrounding area, which is helpful for trail open/close decisions. A member commented at the last meeting that Dennis “never stops doing snowmobile stuff…year around!” Dennis knows “all stuff Kelly” – members, landowners, trails, fund raising events, the equipment, brushing and grooming plans, etc. He is also very proud of our growing membership.
Kelly Snowshoes would like to thank Dennis for all the time and effort he puts into our club. And we’d like to invite you to congratulate Dennis on his Life-Time Membership, if you run into him, and please thank him for all he does for Kelly Snowshoes!
Jerry Bolf, Life-Time Member (2015)
The most recent member to join this elite group is Jerry Bolf. Jerry is 77 years young and continues to be an active member of the club. He’s been married to his wife, Jean, for 57 years and they have four children: Lucy, Mike, Laurie and Bob. His son, Bob, said Jerry started riding the first (of many) Arctic Cat in 1969 and his Dad used to pull the kids behind that sled in a “Cat Cutter”. Arctic Cat snowmobiling has been a family thing ever since.
Jerry has been a long-time member of Kelly Snowshoes and was also active in both the Rib Knights and the Rothschild Urban-Aires Snowmobile Clubs. Jerry has always enjoyed a “love for speed” and as a result was involved in the “Radar Runs” in the 80’s. He also was involved in snowmobile drag racing behind the Schofield Dam in the late 80’s and the 90’s with the Wausau Arctic Cat dealer at the time, Gordy Rhody.
Jerry works on his friend’s sleds, repairs his own and enjoys making them his own by adding lights, spoilers and most recently, a parachute pack! His current ride is an Arctic Cat ZR8000, which he got after trading in his Arctic Cat 4-stroke LXR 1100, which in his words “was not fast enough!” In the past you’ve had to watch out if you are going to race Mr. Bolf across the lake because that ZR600 may have all the decals of a ZR500 and he likely won’t tell you about it until after he’s raced you and obtained the beverage he won from you. After all, it is easier to change out those decals than it is to actually modify that machine!
Say “hello” to Jerry if you see him out on the trails and wave enthusiastically because he may be recording you on that “Go Pro” attached to his helmet! Congratulations, Jerry! Thank you for all of your snowmobile shenanigans and thank you for continuing to be such as active member of our club!
