Richard Keith Dinsmoor

His childhood in Altadena was full of freedom that lead to outdoor adventures and enduringfriendships with people all the way through college and beyond. Keith graduated from MuirHigh School in Pasadena and went to Stanford University and then on to UC Berkely for lawschool.

Heading down to Newport Beach during the heat of his younger summers lead to one of thetrue loves of his life…sailing. He spent so much time on Catalina island, was very active withthe Balboa Yacht club and over the years had many different boats, starting from the verysmall and moving up to ones where family could travel together.

Keith met his loyal, life partner Marina at a singles function at the Balboa Yacht Club titled“Losers & Rejects.” They were married for 58 years, together for over 60 years and had adaughter and son.

Always very patriotic, Keith served as a Jag officer in the Navy, as a reservist and also in theCoast Guard auxiliary. He often used naval quotes and famous sayings and one of hisfavorites was from a Union admiral in the civil war who said, “damn the torpedoes, full speedahead.” This was the spirit in which Keith lived life.

In 1985, Keith made the decision to move the family from Orange County California to thesmall town of Calistoga in the Napa Valley wine country. He bought 4 acres of land and a 50+year old house with the plan to run a bed & breakfast. It was hard work, but they built asuccessful family business and became active members in the smaller, tight-knit communityuntil both children went off to college.

Keith took the family to Maui a few times on vacation and he had the dream of moving there.This became the next adventure when he found a property in Kihei that could be turned into abed & breakfast, and before you know it, he and Marina moved their business to Maui.

While living in Maui, Keith was very active in the Lahaina Yacht club and even helpedspearhead a revival in the junior sailing program there. After many summers of teachingsailing, and producing some competitive racers, he was honored to have the primary juniorsailing competition and trophy there named in his honor. He crossed the Pacific Ocean fromCalifornia to Hawaii twice in his sailboats, even sharing this adventure with his son Alex once.

Keith lived with Marina in Maui for almost 30 years, with some shorter stints back in Californiato be closer to the children and grandchildren. He is survived by his loving wife Marina,daughter Larisa, son Alex and grandchildren Ella, Jacob and Sophie.

A funeral will be held at St. Luke’s Orthodox Church in Garden Grove, California on Saturday,November 18th at 11:15am, with a celebration of life to be held in Maui at a later date.

Damn the torpedoes Keith, full speed ahead…