Keevan Earl Lynn

Keevan Earl Lynn
April 22, 1953 -  April 21, 2018
 

Keevan was born April 22nd 1953 at 2:02 PM. In Toppenish Washington to Roy Eugene Lynn and Wanda Mae Lynn. He was the only one born during the day of all the Lynn children. He was a healthy and handsome 7lbs 15.5-ounce baby boy. The name Keevan was made up by his mother and his middle name “Earl” his mother’s fathers Elwin Earl Marler.

Keevan was the 4th of 7 siblings. His older 3 Siblings Judee, Ethel and Ritchie, Then his younger 3 siblings Tambi, Mark and Torri.

The doctor very reluctantly allowed Keevan to go home from the hospital because his 3 older siblings had the red measles. Luckily he did not get them.  

As a young child Keevan was very curious and into everything. Like the time that he took a bottle of his mother’s cold cream and smeared it all over the dresser and dumped her washing soap out all across the floor. His exasperated mother would firmly tell him to get on his trike and ride. So he did and peddled as fast as his legs would pump up and down the long hallway as if his life depended on it and sometimes it did.   

Keevan was very accident prone as a child. At the age of 2 he and his sibling were playing in the shed with a few of his father’s tools. The kids were making “something” unknown to his mother when one of the neighbor boys had Keevan holding a board while he swung a small roofing hatchet. He missed the board but not Keevan’s finger which he was almost chopped off. His mom and dad grabbed the finger and rushed to the hospital where the doctors were able to reattach it and save his finger. Following this incident. Keevan and his brother Ritchie were playing on a hinged gate in which they were told time and time again not to play on when he caught his finger in one of the hinges and again almost cut it clean off but once again they saved the finger. It is a wonder that he had managed to keep all of his digits in tact throughout the rest of his life. Maybe a lesson was learned. Sister Tambi and Brother Mark were born in Toppenish, Washington during the family’s time in the Yakima Valley.

Keevan played little league and was very athletic. He pitched left handed and batted with both right and left. He also played basketball in the Mormon church league winning the region and going all the way to Salt Lake City for the big tournament while living in Albany. Being left handed he had a hard time trying to tie his shoes but one day after finding out that his younger sister Tambi had learned to tie her shoes in one day. He sat down on the floor and refused to eat until he tied his first shoe. He just couldn’t have her ahead of him.

Later on after a move to Harrah Washington Keevan started playing the saxophone in the school band. Music had always been a big part of his mother’s life and she encouraged all of her children to pursue it.

He and his brother Ritchie spent many afternoons fishing in the nearby river catching carp. Back in the day when safety was less of a concern and his mother and father just let them be. Ritchie and Keevan were inseparable and seemed to get into a great deal of mischief together. Whether is was fist fights on the lawn or spying on their older sisters from a second floor window while they smooched with their boyfriends after an evening out.

One evening while Keevan Ritchie, Ethel and Judy were outside playing in the dirt building roads with their Tonka trucks the boys had noticed that the moon was very large in the sky. They went on playing but the moon continued to get larger. Neither knew why. But it kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger until it filled the entire sky. Ritchie and Keevan decided to run for their lives. They hid under the bed scared and convinced that they were both going to die. They both left Judy and Ethel to be snatched up by the aliens that they knew were there to get them. That’s some sibling love for you right there.

Soon Keevan’s father had decided to purchase a trailer court in Longview Washington where the last of his siblings Torri would be born. So Soon another move.  The court was not fully functional yet so he his father had decided to continue working at PP&L and transfer to Portland Oregon. His mother and the children were to run the court while his father was away. Ritchie and Keevan both shared a paper route to help the family with expenses. Keevan and Ritchie were also hired to help with the “mole problem within the court. They were told they would be paid 50 cents per mole and boy did they go after them with a vengeance. Finally, their dad told them that they did such a good job that he was now broke and could not afford the 50 cents anymore. Keevan learned at a young age to be a hard dependable worker.

The court was later sold and the family moved to Albany Oregon and of course kids all changed schools again. During the summer the 4 bigger kids went to work in the fields. Picking berries and pole beans. They did very well. The girls bought school clothes and the boys bought 10 speed bicycles.  Soon his parent found a 5-acre place in North Albany to buy. They raised cows for beef, Chickens and pigs on this little farm. The three older siblings graduated from Albany Union High but soon his father applied and got a service man job in Wapato Washington. So here we go again. Another move. Keevan transferred to Toppenish to finish High school.

 After graduation Keevan Met Toni Chronkhite. A very young widow and they were married.  Keevan so lovingly took on the responsibility of being a father to her young son Rob. Soon after the two decided to move to Albany Oregon with Rob in tow.. Keevan began working for the Albany paper mill in 1974. This year would also hold important as they welcomed a new baby girl. Kymberli Marie was born November 1st 1974. She was a cute baby very small and premature weighing in at 6 lbs 2 ounces.  She was a sweet baby but had her daddy’s temper.  She had curly blonde hair and a sweet smile. Keevan was over the moon about his baby girl. He would watch as big brother Rob pulled her around the yard in his little red wagon.

Times went on and Keevan continued working for the Albany paper mill and life was falling into place. He and Toni bought their first home in Albany on Jackson Street with a big yard and enough room for the kids to play and for their two beautiful Irish Setters Noah and Chantell. Soon after the purchase Toni found out she was pregnant again. This time a baby boy.

Chadwick Wallace Lynn was Born on December 11th 1977, Chad weighing in at 7 pounds 5 ounces.  Chad was a little toe head from day one with curly blonde hair and the famous “Lynn” Look. He looked just like his dad.

Now with 3 children to raise and a busy life Keevan began to move up within the Mill. He started to work rotating shifts but tried to spend as much time as possible with the family. He would take all the kids and Toni out to a property at the edge of town to go play in the mud in his dune buggy. He taught all 3 kids how to catch frogs in the swamps that lie in the area.

Soon after just playing in the mud wasn’t enough. He had found “the Dunes” and would take the family on trips to Florence where he found his new passion “The Jeep” He had a blast going up and down the dunes and had such a feeling of self-accomplishment when he made it to the top. All three kids strapped in seat belts in the back seat while all of their heads bounced together as he would travel up the bumpy dunes.

As the kids got older he introduced the 3 Wheeler.  Rob enjoyed riding his 3 Wheeler alongside the jeep as he traveled and putted all around taking in the scenery.

Keevan and Toni soon found differences in their life story. Divorce came soon after and he was forced to find a life on his own and move on. Through struggles and disagreements Keevans’ daughter Kym came to live with him when she was 11 years old. He would now be raising a girl full time. He took on this challenge with nothing but Love and support and even learned how to braid hair and paint fingernails. He was now forced to do “girl Stuff”. Keevan and Toni remained friends and were both involved in raising the kids until Toni passed away in 2009.

Keevan learned to love water at a young age. Whether it was swimming in creeks, canals or ponds being around water would be something he would continue to enjoy his entire life. When in the boy scouts, the troop built a canoe and the boys got to test it out on Waverly lake. Keevan was also an avid water skier and learned to ski at a young age.  So proud to Ski on one ski. His passion was to have a boat and teach all 3 kids how to ski and tube on the lake. His “go to” place became Green Peter reservoir. He took the entire family camping and water skiing for an entire week every year. This soon became a yearly outing for not just his family for his brothers and mother and father. Then later hid grandchildren were brought into the tradition. He had so much fun teaching his grandchildren how to build a fire or watch them as they tried to chop wood. He cherished these days and loved to sit around the campfire to tell stories of the old days.

Keevan also became fascinated with fishing and crabbing on the Bay. Though he never caught many fish that didn’t stop him from trying. He didn’t always have the best of luck with the boat. The coast guard was called twice in one day to rescue him from the outgoing tide. He had though he had fixed the problem the boat was having but as soon as he was out on the water it broke again. Talk about embarrassing. He never talked about that incident again.

Keevan taught all three kids how to drive in an old white Buick on the quiet roads outside of Millersburg.  He wasn’t always the most patient and all the kids were very careful not to upset dad while driving. He made sure to tell all three of them that it was in their best interest not to kill him today.

Having 3 children it would soon be time to start welcoming grandchildren into his world. Though not thrilled with getting older he was a proud grandpa. His first grandchild born to Rob, a grandson. Andrew.

Oh how proud he was to have this cute little boy come into his life. As the years went by more grandkids came. Kaylie and Alexis, Born to daughter Kym. Sierra, Riley and newest grandchild Anthony born to Rob. Then Dylan and Logan born to chad. His family was growing.

Keevan was forced to Retire from the Albany paper mill in 2009 after working at the mill for 35 years. The mill changed ownership several times over the course of his career and was closed in 2009. This was a tough time for him as it was close to Christmas. He decided to try his hand at truck driving and attended truck driving school in Albany. After graduation he landed a job with May trucking and was sent all over the country. After a few close calls and running over a fire hydrant he decided that this was not the job for him. He liked being home and close to his family. He quit May trucking and landed a job at a sawmill just outside of Salem but due to health reasons he was let go from the mill a short time later.

At this point he decided that is was time to be truly retired and took up Gold Mining. He was going to be RICH. Eureka. Then NOTHING. Though he never struck it rich he and his beloved dog JoJo had many adventures in the mountains surrounding sweet home.  He enjoyed talking with friends and teaching the kids and grandkids how to pan for gold. None of them found any either but they still tried.

In his early retirement he decided that he loved watching drag racing so much on TV that he would buy a little Chevy luv from one of his buddies and go race it. And race it he did. Then broke it, then fixed it, then raced it again. Each time going faster and faster as he learned the rules of the track. Always reading through the Jegs sales book to find bigger and better parts. His favorite part of racing was the burnout. He loved to set the line lock and let the rubber burn. He had a goal of reaching a 12 second quarter mile which he accomplished last summer, the last time he would race.

Keevan owned many cars and trucks over the years and loved to tear them apart and make them better, He would also throw a coat of paint on a few and then obsess over the one tiny run that appeared in the paint. He was a great mechanic and could figure out almost any issue. This was a special gift that he shared with family and friends.

***** Eight weeks ago my dad was not prepared to learn that he had advanced staged cancer. Cancer that’s growing and taking over his body. At this point, he knew that the cancer was not going away and the time he had left to live was limited. He took this time to focus on physical, spiritual, emotional, and family concerns. He went through a list in his mind of things he had wished he had done. People he wished he had treated better vacations he had put off. He thought of ways he could have been a better son, father, brother or friend. The cards and messages from family and friends truly touched him. I had never seen my dad cry as much as I had in those eight weeks. But I knew not only were there tears of sadness and loss but there were also tears of relief that his life did not go unnoticed and there was love and true concern for him. I truly believe that if there was one good thing that came from his illness it was that he was shown that he mattered and he was loved. I thank all of you for that special gift that you had given to my dad and letting me be a witness to such an amazing time in his life. Through so much sadness you were his shining light and I will forever be grateful.

Memorial contributions for medical expenses may be made to the "Keevan E. Lynn Trust" and sent  in care of the funeral home.
A Memorial service will be held Saturday, May 5, at 1:00pm at the funeral home.
 
AAsum-Dufour Funeral Home is handling the arrangements (www.aasum-dufour.)

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