Welcome to My Angels Page

In Memory of my Dad, Rev. William D. Keeling
BA, BS, MA, PH.D, DD Born; June 21, 1923 Died; June 2, 1977

Dad was a native of Todd County Kentucky the son of Thurston and Lorene Fritz Keeling. He completed his college and seminary education concurrently, seven year's work within five and one half years, at the Ashland University in Ohio, after which he did his graduate work at the Pioneer Theological Seminary, Rockford, Ill.

During World War II Dad served for two years in the U.S. Air Force as a fast radio operator on the B-24 fighter plane, with the rank of Staff Sergeant.

Dad was ordained into the ministry in 1950 and pastored until his passing. Dad took one year off from preaching in 1963 to be a English Professor at Lees Jr. College in Jackson Ky. He returned to his pastoral ministry in 1964 as he accepted the call of the Highland and Lester Memorial Presbyterian Churches, where he served until his long battle with cancer finally won over. He held Wed. night prayer meetings from his bedside and the members of the churches would come to the house and sing and dad would preach to them. I know that he was in a lot of pain those last few months but his love for God, his dedication to the ministry, and his devotion to the members which he cherished drove him to keep going until the Lord called him home.

Dad liked hunting, fly fishing for rainbow trout, and polishing the car. I would like to tell you just one of the many stories about how serious dad would get over his hobbies. I was about 12 years old and dad said, after much pleading on my part, that I could go hunting with him, grand pa, and his brother Tom. Mom, Dad, Rosanne (my sister), and I were visiting Ma and Pa for Thanksgiving. There was about 8 inches of snow on the ground and it was really cold as I remember. Well, Grandpa had this old dog named Suzy and she would run a rabbit or set a bird just which came up first. We all lined up across this open field and began walking very slowly watching Suzy do her thing. At the end of this field there was a patch of woods and when we reached there we hadn't seen any thing so, pa said that there was another field on the other side of the woods and we began to work our way through. Dad was letting me use the very first shotgun he had ever owned as a boy. It was a 16 gauge single shot. It had a tiny little hammer that you had to pull it back and it was a bugger to cock. Well, we were going through the woods when all of a sudden, pow, pow, pow, and then pow, pow. I was so excited and I was looking but I didn't see anything and then something hit a few yards in front of me. I thought it was a rabbit and in my excitement shot at the movement on the ground. To my surprise I had hit it and I was ecstatic until I went to see what I had shot. There lay what use to be a quail but now was only a couple of feathers.

Apparently dad had shot it and when he arrived to pick up the prize quail and saw what I had done, he started turning round and round, kinda like a dog chasing his tail. When he stopped he looked at the feathers and back to me, then back at the feathers and then to me. He let out a war hoop and said, Jimmy, you shot my bird! He then looked at the feathers and back to me and said again, Jimmy, you shot my bird! He was flabbergasted and I thought I had had it. But to my surprise, after a few min. he busted out laughing, Haw Haw Haw. Boy, was I relieved to see him laugh. We didn't see anything the rest of the day and went home empty handed. Well, not really, at least not for me, for I had acquired a great memory of my first hunting experience with my dad.

All I can say is, that I miss you terribly Dad, you were the GREATEST. And I am proud to say that yes, Bill Keeling was my Dad. I guess that this Poem best sums it up:

Your Name

You got it from your father. 'Twas the best he had to give.
And right gladly he bestowed it. It's yours, the while you live.
You may lose the watch he gave you -- and another you may claim.
But remember, when your tempted, to be careful of his name.

It was fair the day you got it, and a worthy name to bear.
When he took it from his father, there was no dishonor there;
Through the years he proudly wore it, to his father he was true,
And that name was clean and spotless when he passed it on to you.

Oh, there is much that he has given that he values not at all.
He has watched you break your playthings in the days when you were small.
You have lost the knife he gave you and you've scattered many a game.
But you'll never hurt your father if you're careful with his name.

It is yours to wear forever, yours to wear the while you live.
Yours, perhaps, some distant morning, to another boy to give.
And you'll smile as did your father -- with a smile that all can share---
If a clean name and a good name you are giving him to wear.
by: Edgar A. Guest

In Memory of Connie's Mom and Dad;
Jesse Marie Phipps Dossett and Hugh Dossett
Born: May 21, 1919 Nov. 2, 1916
Died: May. 24, 1984 Oct. 24, 1996

Her name might have been Jesse Marie but everyone called her Granny, young and old a like, for she was the granny figure that all women would like to be who have grand children. A dear lady who always had a kind word for everyone and you never heard her complain. Any time you went into her home is was neat and clean and that was a marvel in itself considering that she raised 10 children. Granny was hard working and I never went into there home but there was some beans, potatoes, and biscuits on the table and most of the time some home made sausage too.

Hugh, was tall and slender and on the quit side and when he said something he meant it. I remember one time Hugh ask me to help him load a 2,200 lbs Bull and carry him off to market. This had to be the meanest bull ever, that had four legs and a tail. We were going to load him into my open horse trailer. Hugh had a milk cow that was fresh and we loaded her into the front of the trailer, closed the center partition and the idea was to let the bull go into the back partition of the trailer and then lock him in with the back door of the trailer. By the way this bull was in the pasture. Well, when we drove to the pasture and got out of the truck to open the back door of the trailer that bull chased us right back into the truck. First Hugh then I would try and get to the door to open it but that bull would chase us. Finally, we got him in and locked the door and lead the milk cow out of the front side door. I thought that we really fooled that old bull and I guess that we did because he bellowed and bawled and butted and kicked that trailer something awful.

Well we were all over the road from the bull stomping around and I had to drive very slow. When we got to the stock yard I backed in and the pin hooker started to opening all the gates. That pin hooker had a cane to guide the livestock with and when he got to our trailer Hugh told him that the bull was a mean one. The man said, Now Mr. Hugh, I been doing this all my life and that bull ain't gonna bother me none. Hugh looked at me and said, ok, undo the trailer door. The second that bull got out he chased that pin hooker over the top rail of the chute and was climbing up after him. After butting one of the boards loose he cleared a path all back through those pins. The sides of those pins are about 6 feet high and as Hugh and I watched from the safety of the trailer it looked like popcorn popping the way the pin hookers were popping up over the tops of the chutes. That bull busted several gates before he finally calmed down and everybody was sure glad that he did. That old pin hooker came back over to Hugh and looked at him, and Hugh said, I told you that bull was mean. The man said Mr. Hugh, I'll never doubt anything you tell me again.

Granny and Hugh were just plain country folk and two of the nicest people I have ever known. A man could not have asked for a better mother and father in law.

In Memory of my Grand Parents;
Lorene Fritz Keeling and Thurston Keeling

Born: Nov. 9, 1904 Oct. 16, 1900
Died: June 21, 1996 Mar. 11, 1999

To tell you about Ma and Pa is going to be difficult, for there is so much to say that I don't know where to begin. They were so special that it would be easy to write a book about them. If there ever were perfect grand parents, Ma and Pa are that couple. Pa worked for Goodyear for 40 years and Ma worked at O'Neil's. They were two of the eleven charter members of the Akron Baptist Temple. They were Honest and God fearing and they made you feel like you were so very special and important to them. I believe that every grand child and great grand child and great great grand child will tell you the same thing. But the thing the I remember the most was how they both loved Jesus. I miss all the things about them but I guess the number one thing is hearing them pray. I believe that the portals of heaven would open up when they prayed. I loved to hear Pa talk to Jesus. It wasn't like he was talking to someone way off in a distance but more like he was talking to a dear friend in the same room or like you would talk to your Dad. That is the kind of relationship he had with the Heavenly Father. When He prayed I would get heavenly goose bumps all over and you could just feel the Holy Spirit moving. He loved to talk about Jesus and he carried a little business card everywhere he went and would pass it out to every one he met. I miss how Pa would be sitting in his big old easy chair with his bible open in his lap and he would be reading in that old tattered bible with the pages all marked and underlined. He would mostly be reading Psalms or so it seemed.

And laugh, my, my how he loved to laugh. He was always picking and joking and if you were in a bad mood or not feeling well, a few minutes around Pa would brighten you so that you forgot what ever was bothering you. I miss the stories he would tell me. I would sit for hours and he would tell me about how he used to court grand ma in the horse and buggy. They could go the church on a date and sometimes to a revival. Pa said, that dating in a horse and buggy was much better than in a car because that ol' horse knew the way home and you could spark without having to worry about running off the road. He told me about how he made moonshine before he got saved and then he would give his testimony. The name of the sermon that was being preached the night Pa got saved was, "What will you do with Jesus, called the Christ?" and I can still see tears well up in his eyes and his voice would quiver every time he would tell about Jesus saving his soul. I never got tired of hearing his testimony and I know that when I draw my last breath here on earth and my next one in heaven that Pa and Ma will be two of the first ones to greet me. We will all sing and shout and Praise God together. What a day that will be to see Dad, Pa, and Ma together again. The hurt I feel now won't be for much longer............

This is Grand Pa's Legacy. The little card he made so many people smile with. Grandpa gave over 10,000 of these little cards!

Midi Title; 'Living With Jesus'
Isaiah 43 & John 10: 3
Copyright by; Elizabeth & John Tolson Ayg. 2000
Used with permission Eliz & John have both gone
on to be with the Lord... I sure miss them.