David P. Keen

January 24, 2006

David was born on December 26th, 1930 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Given how close his birth was to Midnight, though, he always insisted that he was really born on Christmas Day, Pacific Standard Time. The great disadvantage of this timing was that he would always be cheated out of having two days for getting presents, Christmas and his birthday coming at the same time.

He grew up in Tulsa along with his best friend Don Bolton, who was like a brother to him. He joined the Navy at the age of sixteen. After going through boot camp in San Diego, David was assigned to the cruiser, USS Pasadena. It was while dating Phyllis' sister Peggy at the time, and it was through them that they came to be introduced. They were married not long after that in September of 1948. Sandra was born to them in 1949. When David was discharged from the Navy, the family tried making Oklahoma their home. Sherry was born to them there in 1951. Oklahoma just didn't work out for them, so in 1955 the family moved back to California, and settled in Redondo Beach in the very house that David and Phyllis have stayed in to the present day. In the fifty seven years of their marriage they have also been blessed with the births of their three grandsons, Aaron, Caleb, and David, and their great granddaughter Rachelle.

David had come out of the Navy as a machinist, and he used that skill to build his own trade. Over thirty years, starting from scratch, he built his own business up into a thriving machine shop. Keen Machine, as it was named, became instrumental in providing precision parts for the aerospace industry, for plumbing parts, and for formula one race cars in the Long Beach Grand Prix.

As a man, David has been truly unique-one of a kind. He has been described as a combination of the movie Dad from Big Fish, and an uncle from Second-hand Lions. His character was simply bigger than life. But that was all part of why people loved to hang out with him. He was generous to his family and friends. He loved to cook for guests, especially to barbeque, and he would fill the back yard with friends and neighbors to feed them. Perhaps it was this enjoyment of cooking that made him such a good tipper at restaurants. He would not only tip the waiter, but he would see to it that all the cooks got a tip as well. He could also be stubborn, seeking his own way about things. He was that way with any projects or ideas that got into his head. He wouldn't let go of anything until he was done with it. He was that way in seeing to personally taking care of his mother for these past ten years through her increasing struggles. He could be set with other people too; if he liked you , he loved you, if he didn't like you, well forget it.

David had a lot of hobbies and interests that he shared with friends and family over the years. He loved skin diving and spear fishing, golf and football and basketball. He really enjoyed the racetracks, boating to Catalina, coin and Indian jewelry collecting, and he especially loved caring for his fish in the pond and the turtles.

These last few years have not always been easy though. David had suffered with diabetes, and it took its toll. He required vascular surgery at one point, and his foot had to be amputated. He wasn't really expected to recover, but his determination and stubbornness came through for him. He exercised every day either riding his bike or walking with a prosthetic foot until his strength returned. In fact, he enjoyed arm wrestling folks just to prove his strength. As you all know, David never quite gave up on his old foot either. He carried pictures of that foot to show whenever he could. In fact, when Phyllis was going through his coat pockets, she found a copy of that picture in nearly everyone of them.

David's faith was really more of a private matter for him. The real depth of it we do not know. Being the son of a Pentecostal preacher, its no surprise that he knew a lot about the Bible, but he seemed to use it less as a source of comfort than as a means of picking arguments' at least publicly. Yet he professed to believe in God, and when Sandra died, he confessed his faith and was baptized because he wanted to be sure to see her again in Heaven someday. Well, that someday has arrived for David. Now he stands in new life before the God he professed in this life. Whatever our knowledge about David's faith, whatever our awareness of his strengths and shortcomings as a person, God does hold him fast in love and grace. Let me read just a short piece of Scripture about the steadfastness of God's love for any who will profess him.

Romans 8: 31-39

Nothing can separate us from the love of God through Jesus Christ. His grace is stronger than any human weakness, and his love is deeper than we can fathom. God's love and grace are so great that they have the power to restore us to life again. So God is already doing for David, and so shall he draw us into new life as well; together in unending joy.