David James KEITH

KEITH, MCVICKER, DOWLING, STEAD, BARNES, BARBER

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 12/22/2009 at 10:10:13

December 17, 2009
Fort Dodge Messenger, Iowa

ROCKWELL CITY, Iowa - D. James Keith, 89, passed away Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2009 at the Iowa Jewish Senior Life Center, Des Moines. His wishes were to be cremated. Memorial Services will be 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 19, at the United Methodist Church, Rockwell City, with the Rev. Marcia Sangel officiating. Visitation will be 4 to 7 p.m. Friday at the Palmer & Swank Funeral Home, Rockwell City, with a Masonic Service at 7 p.m. Burial of cremains will be at Rosehill Cemetery, with Military Graveside Rites by the Rockwell City Veterans Organization.

David James (Jim) Keith, son of Robert Provan Keith and Myrtle McVicker, was born Nov. 18, 1920 at Fort Dodge, Iowa. He lived in Vincent, Iowa until 1931, when he moved with his parents and sisters to Rockwell City where his father established the Keith Insurance Agency. Jim graduated from Rockwell City High School at 16 as valedictorian of the Class of 1937. Three-and-one-half years later he received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Iowa. While an undergraduate, he was elected to Order of Artus and Phi Beta Kappa, honorary scholastic fraternities. In 1941 and 1942 he was employed as an underwriter at Des Moines by Employers Mutual Casualty Company and Bankers Life Company. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1942. Jim began training to become a pilot, and soloed, but in 1944 was selected for Officer Training. In addition to schooling at Miami Beach, Fla., Jim attended Harvard Graduate School in Cambridge, Mass. where he received a semester of credit towards an M.B.A. He then served as an Air Force statistical control officer in Ohio and in Oakland, Calif. where he met Margaret (Peggy) Dowling. On May 26, 1946 Jim and Peggy were married in Berkeley, Calif. Jim returned to civilian status at that time, but he remained in the Air Force Reserve until 1953. Jim and Peggy moved to Rockwell City where Jim joined into partnership with his father in the insurance and income tax accounting business where he worked full-time until 1986 and part-time until 1997 when his wife became ill.

Jim Keith was Past Master of the Masonic Lodge and served the community in various other capacities, including Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, President of the Lions Club, and Treasurer of the fundraising committee to build a new library and community center. He held many offices in the United Methodist Church and served the Iowa Conference of the United Methodist Church continuously from 1955 to 1988 on many boards and committees involving pensions, farm management, investments and other activities. He was Treasurer of the Conference for many years and served as President of the Conference Board of Trustees from 1979 to 1982.

Preceding him in death were his parents and his wife, Peggy, who died in 1998. He is survived by his son, Robert, Washington, D.C.; daughters Mary Ann (Mrs. Thomas Stead), Orlando, Fla. and Patrecia, Des Moines, Iowa; five grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; and sisters, Roberta Barnes, Pomona, Calif. and Mary Alice Barber, O'Fallen, Mo.