Fay Dee Keene

Fay put on her wings and took flight on Thursday, Dec. 28, 2017. She was born on Oct. 19, 1929 in Phoenix, AZ; the first of three children born to Eldrid Dee and Mary (Dees) Kinder. She is the Great-Great Granddaughter of Arizona Mormon Pioneers William Decatur and Elizabeth (Gale) Kartchner. In 1880, William became the first Postmaster of Snowflake, Arizona.

Fay graduated from Phoenix Union High in 1947, and met Jimmie Keene in Sept. and married him 3 weeks later on Oct. 18, 1947. They were married for almost 40 years when he passed away on March 4, 1988.

Fay and Jimmie had 3 children; Audrey (Lanny) Hangaard of Eagle Point (born in Phoenix, AZ), Kathryn (Paul) Brooks of Central Point (born in Salinas, CA), and Jimmie Dee Keene (Mary Blandau) of Eagle Point (born in Santa Cruz, CA).

Fay’s parents were “fruit tramps” and followed the crops working in lettuce sheds in Colorado, Arizona, and California. Jimmie and Fay settled in Soquel, CA where Jimmie worked as a roofer. They bought a home and raised their kids in rural Soquel near New Brighton Beach.

The family moved to Eagle Point on Labor Day weekend in 1966 and Fay worked for 12 years as a nurse’s assistant at Rogue Valley Medical Center. Jimmie and his brothers, Billie & Toogie, worked for the garbage company where all three worked on the same truck. Their families, along with their mother, all lived together on HWY 62 across from Mrs. Berryman’s place. After a few months, Fay and Jimmie moved up Butte Falls Highway near Dead Indian Road for a time before moving to where the Finches now live on Butte Falls Highway. They bought drop calves from Mr. and Mrs. Finch’s dairy and raised them for beef.

In 1971 Fay and Jimmie moved to Woolfolk Lake on Obenchain Road before buying their place in Lake Creek in 1974. Fay and Jimmie delivered the Mail Tribune for almost 20 years until his death in 1988. Fay continued to deliver the paper for a few years and lived on the South Fork of Little Butte Creek in Lake Creek until her place washed away in the New Year’s Flood of 1997. In typical “Fay Style” she picked herself up and never looked back.

She lived in the Lake Creek area until moving into Eagle Point in 2004. Fay continued to volunteer at the Lake Creek Pioneer Hall, the Wood’s House, and would help put flags up in Eagle Point on The Avenue of Flags. She never hesitated to help a friend, give someone a ride, jump on the back of a Harley, and even went skydiving at 77.

Fay is survived by her three children; 7 grandchildren: Tammy (Ted) Daw, Gregg (Vonna) Hangaard, Jeanette Pfaff, Tanya Shelander Reasor, Bryan (Amanda) Shelander, Jennifer (Mike) Pariani, and Jason Keene (Amanda Newsom); 15 great-grandchildren: Ted (Wendy) Daw, Shandie (Anthony) Vinzant, Kimberly (Danny) Brewer, Shelbi and Andrew (Haley) Hangaard, and Tori and Derick Pfaff, Baird and Cooper Shelander, Max, Sam, Hunter, Dalton and Ethan Pariani, and Jimmie Keene, and 10 great-great-grandchildren: Madison, Paige and Olivia Daw, Bailey, Paiton, and Allison Vinzant, and Carter, Cadence, Aidan, and Melody Brewer. She is also survived by her sister, Pat Sands, nephew Chris Sands, and grand-nephew Marcus Sands of Polson, MT; Betty and Chris Crow and family in Arizona, and a vast number of dear friends in Eagle Point and Lake Creek. She was preceded in death by her husband, Jimmie Keene; father and step-mother, Eldrid Dee and Evelyn Kinder; mother and step-father, Mary (Dees) and John Turner; and brother, Eldrid Lee “Skip” Kinder.

Fay’s family will be forever grateful to Patty Bergh and Judy Belknap of Bergh’s Adult Foster Care in Central Point, Marshall Pellar of Signature Hospice, and Bob the Bath Man for their gentle, loving care of Fay for the past 7 months. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Fay’s name to the Lake Creek Pioneer Hall, Butte Creek Mill Foundation or Signature Hospice Home Health, 834 S Front St., Central Point.

A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, January 6, 2018 at 1 p.m. at the Ashpole Community Center (City Hall) in Eagle Point. Private interment will be alongside Jimmie at Eagle Point National Cemetery.