Michael Duane Kletecka

Michael Duane Kletecka, 61, died August 14, 2020, at his daughter’s home in Meade, Kansas, following a valiant battle with cancer. He was born December 11, 1958, to Duane Melvin and Blanche (Love) Kletecka in Wichita, Kansas. Mike attended kindergarten in Hoisington, Kansas. He and his family moved to Guymon, Oklahoma when he entered the sixth grade at Guymon Elementary School. Mike graduated with the Guymon High School Class of 1977. He went to work for the local Safeway store in 1976, where he worked until it closed almost 20 years later. Always a hard worker, Mike consistently maintained more than one job since leaving high school. While at Safeway, he began a side job building fences with his cousin Jeff Smith in Guymon, before accepting a position in 1997 with Wal-Mart in Guymon where he was employed until the time of his death. While working at Walmart, Mike worked as an overnight stockman, and then as an overnight support manager. He traded in his part time job of building fences for different part time employment that was near and dear to his heart, helping to care for his elderly grandparents Robert and Mary (Lile) Love. After they both passed away, he once again chose a side job with a position at the Texas County Detention Center in Hooker, Oklahoma, where he worked for eight years before leaving there to spend more time caring for his mother. He accepted a part time position at Guymon Furniture in 2010, where he also worked for eight years. He rarely missed a day of work from any of his work until his health took a turn and he was diagnosed with acute renal failure and Multiple Myeloma Cancer in February 2018. Due to his health he had to step down from the management position he had attained at Walmart and began working instead in the produce department. He had to give up his part time job with the furniture store due to health restrictions. A loyal and dedicated employee and caregiver, Mike not only helped to care for his grandparents before their deaths and his mother, but also his father-in-law and mother-in-law. He loved hunting and fishing and had many fond memories of fishing in the Red River and Eagle’s Nest, New Mexico area with his grandfather, Robert Love, and his uncle, Carmel Bennett. He enjoyed spending time in the mountains, spending many hours in front of a campfire and hiking. He enjoyed playing dominoes and spending time with his father-in-law. Mike was a member of an IPSC competition shooting group, and a cowboy action shooting group in Guymon, where he helped design many of the cowboy shooting scenarios. He was one of the founding members of a gunfight reenactment group, the Grassland Gunfighters of No Man’s Land, where he portrayed Santa Fe Slim. The group, which learned their craft from the Dodge City, Kansas gunfighters, performed during Pioneer Days as well as in many events in Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas and New Mexico. In 1999, he began dating one of the group’s members, Ramblin’ Rose, aka Nancy Wallace Graves. The two married June 26, 1999, at the United Methodist Church in Hooker, Oklahoma. She survives. From this union, he automatically became stepdad to three teenage daughters, Amanda, Ashley and Samantha as well as to Nancy’s stepson from a prior marriage, Joshua. He later legally adopted all three girls, something he had wanted to do for a long time. He was proud of his 14 grandchildren and loved spending time with them.

He was preceded in death by his father; his grandparents, Robert and Mary Love, both of Guymon; and Edward and Sophia Kletecka of Medford, Oklahoma; his dear Uncle Carmel and Aunt Ruth Bennett; his father-in-law Norval Wallace and numerous other friends and relatives.

Other survivors include his daughters, Amanda Wallace-Murphy (Ben) and Ashley Daugherty (Derrik), all of Hooker, Oklahoma; and Samantha Benear of Meade, Kansas; step-son, Joshua Blevins (Leah) of St. Charles, Missouri; grandchildren: Dallas and Cadence Sherman and Thomas Benear all of Meade; Justin and Wallace Daugherty, Kiana, Connor, Daegan and Eamon Murphy, all of Hooker; Dakota, Luke, Lily, Jacob, and Zoe Blevins, all of Foley, Missouri; his mother-in-law, Mary Wallace, of Guymon, Oklahoma; sister Kathy Wescott of Floresville, Texas; sisters-in-law: Sharon Garey (Alan) of Ulysses, Kansas; Vhonda Longacre (Gary) of Lawton, Oklahoma; Kelley Wells (Joe) of Guymon, Oklahoma; brothers-in-law: Veldon Wallace (Lora), of Muleshoe, Texas; and Vaughn Wallace (Jessica), of Fort Worth, Texas; a number of nieces and nephews, as well as numerous other friends and family.

Services are planned for 10 a.m., August 18, at First United Methodist Church in Hooker, Oklahoma. There will be no burial. Cremation will take place, and his ashes will be scattered later in one of his beloved mountains. Memorials are suggested to the Texas County 4-H Shooting Sports or Panhandle Partners in Guymon and may be left at Roberts Brothers Funeral Home, Box 745, Hooker, Oklahoma, 73945.

Condolences may be left at www.robertsbrothersfuneralhome.com