John Russell KEITH

KEITH, PROVAN, REDDICK, YOUNG, ANDERSON, MCLAIN, PENNINGTON, THORNTON, SMITH, DEAN

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 10/7/2006 at 10:29:21

Mason City Globe Gazette
26 March 1999

Russell Keith, 98, of Garner, died Wednesday (March 24, 1999) at the Concord Care Center in Garner. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 27, at the United Presbyterian Church in Garner, with the Rev. Dan Bloesch as officiant. Burial will be in Concord Township Cemetery with graveside military rites by the Garner Veterans Ceremonial Unit. Visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m. today at the Cataldo Funeral Chapel, 160 E. Fourth St., Garner.

John Russell Keith, the son of David and Agnes (Provan) Keith, was born July 9, 1900, in Goldfield. He attended and graduated from Goldfield High School in 1918. Russell began working with his father at the Goldfield Elevator and then joined the Civilian Army Corps, from which he was drafted in military service, serving his country during World War I. After his discharge, he returned to Goldfield, where he continued to work at the elevator. He later moved to Vincent, where he worked at the lumberyard. On Oct. 6, 1926, he married Mary E. Reddick at her parent's farm home near Vincent. They made their home in Vincent, moving to Garner in November of 1927. Russell worked as a bookkeeper at the Farmer's Co-op Elevator for 38 years and helped with the planning and construction of the first concrete elevator in Garner. Russell and Mary moved to Ames in 1965, where they worked at Lyndon Hall on the campus of Iowa State University. They moved back to Garner from 1970-77 and returned to Ames from 1977 to 1988. In 1988, they moved to Prairie View Apartments. Due to ill health, Russell and Mary moved to Concord Care Center in Garner.
Russell's great love was horseback riding. He enjoyed reading, traveling and photography, which he organized in family home movies. He was a member of the United Presbyterian Church, serving as church treasurer for 35 years, Masonic Lodge, Lion's Club and was a charter member of the American Legion in Garner. Russell was the last living veteran of World War I in Hancock County.

He is survived by his wife, Mary Keith, of Garner; a daughter, Mildred Young and her husband, Robert, of Garner; a son, Dr. Robert Keith and his wife, Kathleen, of Cincinnati, Ohio; grandchildren and great-grandchildren, John R. Young and his fiancee, Sheryl Anderson, both of West Des Moines, and his daughter, Angela, of Dallas Center; Annette McLain and her husband, David and their daughters, Amanda and Ashley, of Keosauqua; Brian David Keith and his wife, Renee, and their daughter, Addie, of Cincinnati, Ohio; Sean Robert Keith and his wife, Lauren, and their sons, Spencer, A.J. and Maxwell, of Fairfield, Ohio; Eric Scott Keith and his wife, Jennifer, and their son, Jacob, of Columbus, Ind.; Kristen Pennington and her husband, Sam, of Jacksonville, Fla.; and Amy Elizabeth Thornton of Cincinnati, Ohio. He was preceded in death by an infant daughter, Ida May Keith, Dec. 7, 1935; his parents; an infant sibling, "Babe"; five sisters, Dorothy Smith, Enid Smith, Mary Keith, Hattie Keith and Marian Dean; and two brothers, Robert P. Keith and David Keith.