Keith Samuel Abbate

(January 29, 1955 - January 31, 2021)

The Man, The Myth, The Legend...

Keith was an amazing Son, Brother, Uncle, Godfather and Friend. But to most of us, he was just known as good ol' Uncle Keith. The guy with the beard and ponytail that always gave you a big hug when he saw you and always smelled so good. He was so very loved and respected by all who knew him. Keith was the type of friend that would give his left shoe to help the people out that he cared about. Keith was the one person you could call and you knew he would be right there for you no matter what and take care of whatever was wrong. His love and support to his family and friends was incomparable and will be felt forever by all of us. His life was much too short, but so full of adventures and love.

Keith loved to work with his hands from a young age; started building and fixing motorcycles as a teenager. He loved his Harleys and to go on rides with his friends and brother; this was the life he loved. He would later go on to make his own motorcycle, as he wanted, completely by hand. He enjoyed motorcycles so much, he found a special 9-11 firefighter edition Harley Davidson, which he was also very proud of.

Not long into his 20’s, knowing he wanted to work for himself, bought a tow truck and Flying Tiger Towing was born. He was the best, getting calls around the clock. Keith was there to rescue all of us no matter what time of day or night. Keith was so good at what he did; his phone still rings for help to this day, even though his truck was put away in the early 2000’s. Unfortunately, this is when he lost his best friend and eventually moved on in life. He joined the Union, Local 614, building stages and special effects for major concerts, raves and events. Keith was so proud of what he did and lit up whenever he talked about it. He would pull out his phone and show us pictures of all the huge props and special effects he got to build, people he get to meet and videos he took of shows he got to see.

Sundays were NASCAR days for Keith. He would gather with his friends just about every weekend to watch the big race; Jimmy Johnson was his driver. He would love to take breaks from life and head to his friends, Ray and Lidia’s, house for days at a time so they could head out on the lake to go fishing. He had some great catches and loved to tell his stories about them.

Keith loved trips to San Felipe with his family to visit his mom’s house and make sure it was up to par. He had big plans for that house and we will all make sure they are carried out for him. He liked to visit the beach and walk around the town out there. His latest project was rebuilding a sand rail to take and ride in the Mexican dessert, it wasn’t quite completed, but it will be for him. Mexican food was not his favorite food, and he hated onions, but he made the best of it while he was there. We will never forget his famous Jell-O with fruit (his was the best) and BBQ’d Ham with homemade BBQ sauce on the Holidays. We all looked forward to it and holiday dinners will not be the same without it.

Keith will live on forever in our hearts and his legacy will live on with his bike as he is riding in Heaven forever. We love you Uncle Keith and know we have one more angel watching over us… until we meet again.