Bozeman lost a native-born daughter, sister and devoted wife, mother, grandmother, and friend on February 7th, 2025. Kathy Keil was born November 26th, 1949 to Mary and Lee Theisen. She was the best behaved of her siblings, which is no mean feat because there were 13 of them. She also kept the younger ones (and some of the older ones) alive through their childhood, which is even more remarkable. Her greatest life works were the one million things that she did to make the lives around her better. She insisted that those million things were ordinary, but their sum total was extraordinary. In 1992 she moved with her family to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho where she learned to put (a little) caution to the wind in the penny slot machines and still managed to help her boys finish college.
Before moving to Idaho with her family, she was a long-cherished member of Resurrection Parish, the brains behind the bookkeeping that kept the doors open, and the artist behind the beautiful altarpieces for many years. We also remember that creativity through her many works, including the handmade Halloween costumes that turned her otherwise ordinary children into ninjas and Care Bears and the handmade cards that made even a trip to the mailbox special. She passes on just the perfect amount of stubbornness to her sons, which she used (to great effect) to tirelessly advocate for them as exactly the people they are. The grandchildren and dogs in her life were all spoiled mercilessly. She returned to her loving Bozeman family in her final years and she left this world peacefully, surrounded by them, and we'll miss her terribly.
She will be kept in the loving memories of many but most especially those of her husband, Don, her two grown sons Peter (partner Emily) and Alex (parter Katie), grandchildren Margot and Wes, and a gaggle of siblings: Jim, Mary, Pat, Joe, John, Maureen, Margaret, Paul, Liz, Anita. In her memory were those who left us before her, including her parents Mary and Lee, two of her beloved siblings Ginny and Pete, and her cherished nieces Nicole and Christine.
Information about donations in Kathy's name can be found on her Memorial Page on Dokken-Nelson's website, www.dokkennelson.com.
