Timothy "Tim" Kelley
February 1, 1944 ~ May 21, 2026
Tim Kelley, of Mount Vernon, Iowa passed on Thursday, May 21, 2026, at the Hospice House of Mercy in Hiawatha, Iowa. He drifted away exactly as he’d hoped – in his sleep, after time to say goodbye and put things in order. Stewart Baxter Funeral & Memorial Services, Mount Vernon, is assisting Tim’s family with arrangements.
Tim was born on February 1, 1944, and spent his childhood in Baldwin Park, California. There, at Baldwin Park High, he met the love of his life, Sara. They married and escaped together to live a life of grand adventures and fabulous meals from Florida to Paris to Zurich to Hollywood, and finally settled in Mount Vernon, (drawn by the lure of grandparenthood). Nothing brought Tim more pride than his grandkids, Rylie and Jack, and being a daily presence in their lives.
Engineering was Tim’s work, his recreation, his art, and how he spoke. From the moment he could hold tools, he took apart every machine within reach to figure out how it worked. In high school, he hustled spending money by converting hot rods from column shifters to four-on-the-floors. In his first job out of high school, he designed components for Saturn V rocket engines that launched the Apollo missions to the moon. In 1966, he started working as a draftsman at Disney. Quickly recognized for his mechanical aptitude and artistry, he became an “Imagineer”, and stayed one, in spirit, for the rest of his days. In 1973, the company sent Tim to Florida to build their Ride and Show Engineering team. Their charge was to take over engineering support for rides and effects once installed, and in that capacity, there were few machines at Disney that Tim didn’t touch — always with an eye toward keeping them safe and reliable. He had a hand in making dozens of popular rides, including Pirates of the Caribbean, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Test Track, Tower of Terror, and Haunted Mansion. In 1989, he established and led the engineering group responsible for creating the rides and mechanical effects for Disneyland Paris. Tim was never one to brag, but he often told his family that the proudest moment of his career was opening the Paris theme park with every ride and mechanical show element fully operational – an achievement no other major theme park opening has matched. Tim “retired” from Disney in 1995 – and the resulting lack of major engineering challenges almost immediately exceeded the limits of his patience. He went back to work in Zurich for the rollercoaster engineering firm Intamin. He was recruited to return to Disney to help with the Test Track ride. At Universal Studios, he enjoyed a particularly fun chapter developing ride components and “magical” effects for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Tim remained in demand as a consultant across the theme park industry until he finally, (sort of) actually retired.
In recent years, he designed and built electric rowing cycles for people who had lost the use of their legs. Over the past decade, he created his “Animenagerie”, a collection of mechanically animated window displays that became one of the highlights of Mount Vernon’s Magical Night festivities. When he wasn’t tinkering in the background to ensure things ran smoothly, Tim spent each Magical Night inspiring the next generation of engineers, explaining animations’ mechanics to the children they entranced. For his own fun, he created dozens of motorized sculptures; he built several dune buggies (and was featured on the cover of Dune Buggy magazine for one of his innovative designs), and a dizzying array of other motorized conveyances – from go-karts, to chainsaw-motor-powered bicycles, to a hot rod in the style of a 1930s roadster. He taught his son and grandkids how to make things and showed them by example that a simple thing that works beats a fancy thing that breaks.
Beyond the workshop, Tim spent many of his weekend mornings with friends at the Fuel coffee shop in Mount Vernon, debating scientific questions, discussing the news, and sketching explanatory diagrams on napkins. He loved music, long drives, and travel. In the evenings, he enjoyed nothing more than sitting down to a tasty meal and a good margarita or glass of red wine.
Those who will miss him most dearly in life are his beloved wife and adventuring partner, Sara; his son, Sean (Solon, Iowa); his grandkids, Rylie (on her way to a doctoral program at UNC Chapel Hill) and Jack (pursuing a master’s at the University of Iowa); and his sister, Joandell Hahn (Healdsburg, California); and brother, Keith (Las Vegas, Nevada). He was preceded in passing by his parents, Marguerite and Charles; and his brothers, Ted and Paul.
Tim was never one for ceremony and wanted no memorial service – just for all the friends and family he loved to remember how much he loved them. Sara, Sean, and Joandell have been instructed to scatter his ashes on his favorite California beach on a summer day.
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I met Tim at Fuel through old friends when I started making regular trips back to Mt. Vernon, and almost every time I went for coffee, I was almost sure to run into him. I felt so lucky and privileged to make his acquaintance and I always looked forward to the conversations. He had done so much and had so much to say. He was such a remarkable and gifted man, always so warm and welcoming, so interesting, and so modest, friendly, smart and funny. My thoughts are with Sara and the rest of the family.