Joseph Walter Keene

4/9/1943 – 1/2/2015

LA MESA, CA

Joseph (Joe) W. Keene passed away at this home on January 2, 2015. He was born in Ann Arbor, MI to Joseph and Shirley Keene, who preceded him in death as did his brother Jerry Keene and sister Jean Keene Gronda.

After graduating from Beaverton HS in Beaverton, MI in 1962, Joe attended Spartan School of Aeronautics in Tulsa, OK and graduated with an Aviation Airframe and Powerplant Mechanics license. Joe served in the United States Navy from 1966 to 1970 as an Aviation Structural Mechanic. He served with Fighter Squadron VF 92 at Miramar Naval Air Station in San Diego, CA. He went on two west-pac deployments on the USS Enterprise in 1968 and 1969.

After the Navy, Joe and Linda (his wife of 51 years), settled in La Mesa, CA where he worked in the field of property development.

Joe always had a love for airplanes, both fixing them and flying them. In 1962 he got his single engine private pilot’s license and later he added to that a multi-engine rating and a glider rating. He loved to take people flying. He wanted to give them the experience of being up in the air; to let them see why he loved it so much.

Joe is survived by his wife Linda Keene; two sisters, Joan Lapp of Tavares, FL, Jude Martinez-Keene of Benson, AZ; sisters-in-law, Lois Gatton of Lawrence, KN, Barbara Huebner of Beaverton, MI and Connie Bacon of Kailua, HI; brothers-in-law, Allan Bacon of Lakeview, MI and Richard (Carolyn) Bacon of Edenville, MI, plus many nieces and nephews.