Thomas R Keevy

Thomas R. Keevy passed away peacefully on April 14, 2020 at Deaconess Hospital in Spokane, Washington from complications of a brief illness. Tom was 99 years old. Tom was born to Martin and Anna Reycraft Keevy March 9, 1921, the last of four children, on the family farm East of Spangle, Washington. He attended the Mountain View one-room school near where he was born, and also Spangle Grade and High Schools. While working for Boeing in Seattle he completed courses that qualified him for the Army Air Corps, which he joined in May 1942 as an Aviation Cadet. During World War II he piloted DC-3s that picked up and towed gliders from factories throughout the country to outfitting locations in preparation for completion and shipment to England for use during the D-Day invasion. While doing this he met his future wife Merry Barnard during a chance encounter at a diner in Minneapolis, Minnesota. After delivering gliders Tom was assigned to fly supplies from Burma over the Himalayas (The Hump) into and around China. To get there he and his crew had to manually navigate from Indiana to what is now Bangladesh by way of Newfoundland, the Azores, Marrakesh, Tripoli, Cairo, Baghdad, an airfield by the sea in Iran, Karachi, and New Delhi. After the war, he married Merry, started a family, and completed several assignments including flight instructor before being sent to Japan to ferry supplies to U.S. and Allied troops fighting in Korea. In February of 1953 at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, he decided to return to the family farm. Tom loved farming. Not only was it his second career, but it was also his hobby. He was an avid conservationist and always did what was best for the land. He was proud of the farm’s status as a Washington State Centennial Farm. Tom was one of the first to raise Blue Grass seed in the area and was always looking for ways to improve. He was quiet, hardworking, and thrifty always remembering the toll the depression took on the country. Tom was a good and loving husband and father. He enjoyed family events including picnics, drive-in movies, fishing trips, holiday dinners, reunions, and trips. He enjoyed visiting with neighbors and friends, even hoping someone would stop by to visit and break up the day a little. Tom was preceded in death by his father and mother, loving wife Merry, sister Elizabeth Brown, and brother-in-law Frank, sister Ethel Logan and brother-in-law Hugh, and sister Nell Rynerson and brother-in-law Buel. Tom leaves behind his sons Alan (Sally) of Port Hueneme California and Bruce of Spangle, three grandchildren, Seven great-grandchildren, and several nephews. Our heartfelt thanks to all the neighbors and caregivers that looked out for and helped Tom during his final years on this earth. We will be forever grateful for your kindness during this challenging time. You know who you are. God Bless You! Tom has been entrusted to the care of the Cheney Funeral Chapel. Due to the pandemic, Tom will be laid to rest in a private family burial. There will be a celebration of Tom’s life in the future. The family respectfully requests any donations in his honor to be forwarded to the Gary Sinise Foundation or a favorite charity.

Thomas R Keevy

March 9, 1921 - April 14, 2020