Emily Kathleen Keesey

Emily Keesey was born Emily Kathleen Carr in Hood River, Oregon on July 3, 1944, the fourth of five children of James and Julie Benton Carr. Her maternal grandfather, Charles “King” Benton, was one of the early orchardists in the Hood River Valley, and Emily grew up among orcharding families and many Benton cousins, with glamorous views every clear day of both Mount Adams across the Columbia, and Wy’east, (Mt. Hood) to the south. As a young girl, she became an excellent horseback rider and downhill skier, and as a teenager taught at the ski hill at Cooper Spur. She climbed Wy’east as a high school student and young mother. As a sophomore at University of Oregon, she met and married Jerry Schrader, a physician completing a residency in psychiatry. Their daughter Linda, now a clinical psychologist in Bend, Oregon, was born in 1964; and they lived in Salem, Oregon, Boston, Massachusetts, and Juneau, Alaska on Auke Bay. When the marriage ended, Emily returned to Salem with her daughter and earned a master’s degree in counseling at Western Oregon University.

Throughout her life she maintained a profound level of compassion and acceptance for people of all ages and walks of life. Her capacity for nurture, play and wisdom will be forever remarkable to those who knew her. Her own experiences of losing a parent to suicide and later navigating the difficulties of very young motherhood vividly informed the professional work she did: caring for emotionally disturbed children (Juneau), doing birth control counseling and teaching parenting skills to teenage mothers (YWCA of Salem), and counseling children bereaved by the loss of a parent or sibling (Mother Oaks organization, Salem). Together with other Salem women who believed young people need better access to reliable reproductive health care and birth control, she was instrumental in persuading Planned Parenthood, in 1993, to expand its services to Salem.

In 1980, she was married a second time, to James C. Keesey of Salem, a psychologist, ski instructor and environmental activist, and at the time of Emily’s death they had been married for 42 years. Together they cared for children, stepchildren, nieces and nephews, grandchildren, friends, neighbors, and many pets, including the Nubian goats Emily loved. Among other adventures, she joined a multi-day, multi-state cattle drive on horseback, traveled in Italy, hiked in the Swiss Alps and ski-raced on Mt. Hood. In her 40's she took up dressage riding and competed on Susan, her beloved saddlebred. She was a committed fan, also, of craft projects, wildflowers and herbs, Julia Child’s cooking techniques, that super-handsome Anglican minister on the PBS show Grantchester, the Alaskan folk paintings of Rie Muñoz, a Corona with lime, and the music of Pete Seeger, Jim Croce and Jimmy Buffett. She made memorably lovely tiny flower arrangements. She was an enthusiastic and literary reader. She insisted on candles on the Christmas tree. Any time was time for hot cocoa.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her former husband Jerry Schrader, and her siblings, Molly See, Anne Haun, and Jamie Carr as well his wife Mary Martha Carr She is survived by her husband, Jim, of Salem, younger sister Laurie Milford of Hood River, daughter Linda Schrader-Patton and husband Charlie of Bend, stepdaughter Anna Keesey and partner Chris Gaiser of McMinnville, stepson Daniel Keesey and wife Debbie of Torrance, CA, grandchildren Fiona Schrader, Matthew Schrader-Patton, and Christopher, Nicholas, Austin, and Joaquin Keesey, in addition to many others, including niece Dr. Margo Carr, Ellen Benton Wahler, and Valerie Spier.

A celebration of Emily’s life of compassion and connection will be held at 1:30 pm on Sunday, June 25th, 2023, at the Dye House, Willamette Valley Heritage Center, Salem. Donations may be made in Emily’s name to Planned Parenthood of the Columbia-Willamette, the Humane Society of Oregon, or any organization supporting the health, welfare and joy of children. Friends can use this link to view photos of Emily and write notes to family: https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/salem-or/emily-keesey-11238999. In lieu of flowers, contributions in Emily's memory may be made to Oregon Humane Society, https://oregonhumane.tfaforms.net/23.

The family is deeply appreciative of the care provided to Emily and to us by the wonderful staff of Windsong Memory Care in Salem and Brighton Hospice, as well as the essential support of the federal Medicare program.

On their live concert album, Pete Seeger and Arlo Guthrie recorded a memorable version of the cherished spiritual “Lonesome Valley.” The song tells listeners, “You’ve got to walk that lonesome valley/You’ve got to walk it by yourself/Ain’t nobody here can walk it for you/You’ve got to walk it by yourself.” But Emily made any valley of sadness or difficulty less lonely. She walked through the world in pure kindness. We will miss her always.