Von Ketelsen will perform at Relay For Life of Greene County on Saturday, April 26, at 10 am in the Greene County Community Center.
Ketelsen is recognized as a leading voice and award winning broadcaster for agriculture in Iowa, as well as surrounding states. He is currently with Carroll Broadcasting which consists of KCIM 1380 AM, “Kick Country” 106.7 FM, and KKRL 93.7
Music is one of Ketelsen’s passions. He has a solo acoustic guitar/vocal act and performs a variety of songs from the ‘60s, 70s and some current hits. He grew up performing with his father’s band and learned from him how to tailor his performance to fit the audience. He will sometimes go back to the big hits of the ‘40s like his dad’s band played. He will also perform pop tunes from the Beatles, Eagles and John Mayer, along with country favorites from GarthBrooks, Alan Jackson and GeorgeStrait. Basically, he says that he will perform whatever the audience wants to hear.
Ketelsen has also been touched by cancer. His brother Jack died of leukemia at the age of 18 when Von was just 6 months old. Jack was what people would call the “All American Boy” and Von never had the chance to know him.
Ketelsen said he has always felt that Jack is with him as his guardian angel. In 2006 Von embarked on a journey in the name of his brother and to raise interest in building a Hope Lodge in Iowa City. Hope Lodges are free, temporary housing centers for cancer patients undergoing treatment, along with their caregivers.
His journey involved biking, another of his passions. He began a solo bike ride from Anamosa to Rochester, MN, and back to accomplish his mission. Prior to that ride he had been awaiting his own diagnosis on a lump on a lymph node in his neck and vowed that if it was non-cancerous he would do this ride for the brother he never got to know, all those affected by cancer, and to promote the Hope Lodge.
In 2007 Ketelsen was presented with the American Cancer Society’s “Sword of Hope” Award for his solo self-contained bike excursion that he dedicated to the memory of his mother, who was diagnosed with terminal cancer earlier that year and passed away about a month later.
That ride began in the Quad Cities and ended in Washington DC. Ketelsen rode a rugged steel-framed bike pulling a cargo trailer containing his sleeping bag, tent and guitar. Along the way his intent was to improve cancer awareness and garner support for the Hope Lodge project in Iowa City. Ketelsen says that “the thing that amazed me was everyone I met along the way said the same thing – ‘I know someone who has cancer’.”
