Jack Kelleher, one of Keith's oldest, closest friends, sends us these memories of Keith (thanks, Jack!):
Some random memories about my friend Keith…
Keith had been working outside at his cart outside of Faneuil Hall for the summer and he was always wearing sandals. Because of this, when he took his sandals off he had a really weird tan on the tops of his feet – like stripes. It was great for a laugh. He could have fixed it pretty easily. But again, it was good for a laugh so he kept the stripes going.
Keith got me into mountain biking and he was always up for any sort of ride. One time a group of us went up to Loon Mt. in NH during the summer to check out the trails. It was fun but not all that challenging. You just had to remember not to put your front break on as you screamed down the slopes at 50 mph. Later that day we discovered a single track going down the other side of the mountain. It was more technical with thicker brush and lots of mud so we spread out on the trail.
Towards the end there were some steep downhills and up ahead I could here the other guys in our group yelling as I approached. At the end of one of the hills, not visible until you were right on top of it, was a 5 foot deep ditch filled with muddy water. Splat! I went in - as each of the others had before me. We were now completely soaked and covered in mud. It was hilarious.
So now we were all just sitting there, covered in mud, waiting for the muddy trail’s next victim (Keith) to come around the bend. We’re laughing as we heard his bike get closer. Splat! He went in - but instead of just stopping (always the athlete) he tried to peddle his way through. It was a good try but he lost his balance, fell sideways and went completely under water in this huge muddy ditch. We knew what he was in for but this was way more than expected. It was hilarious.
One time Keith and I drove to the NJ shore where some of his friends from college had rented a house for the summer. There was a bunch of us in the car and it took like 8 hours to get there. The next morning we’re all going out to breakfast and Keith’s car would not go over 25 mph. Keith says: “It’s Ok - I think the car is just tired.”
By the spring of our senior year of High School everyone knew where they were going to college and sort of looked upon that last part of our public school education as just a formality. Keith and I were in the same Psychology class right after lunch and we would always be hoping for a film strip (remember those?) so that we could put our heads down on our desks and sleep. When the teacher felt that there was a particularly significant film strip being presented and that we should be taking notes, she would alert us by saying: “Keith and Jack, please stay awake for this one.”
When we were teenagers the cool thing to do was sneak into a certain private yard by the ocean and climb up this huge cliff and jump off. It was, and still is, a BIG drop. We saw it called “Dread Ledge” one time on a map but everyone called it HMF (the HM stands for huge mother).The summer before he moved to L.A. we were hanging out and he talked me into jumping off HMF again. We were both 30 years old.
I had been living in Salem MA and decided that I wanted to move into Boston. I called my landlord and gave him my 30 day notice. I didn’t have anything lined up so I bought the Boston newspapers and was just about to start looking when the phone rang. It was Keith calling to tell me about an apartment in the North End that was available. I moved into that apartment the next month.
