Obituary

Raymond Keener Jr., 92, passed away on October 17 at CAMC Memorial Hospital, following a short illness. He left the world as he lived his life, very quietly and with his wife of 68 years, Mary Agnes Dennie Keener, at his side. Also known as “Bud” to many of his friends, Ray was born on September 27, 1930, in Richwood, West Virginia, to Ida Lea Sparks Keener and Raymond Keener. After losing his father as a young man, Ray left school to work the family farm, then joined the United States Marine Corps, where he served in the 6th Marine Regiment in the early 1950s. Thereafter, Ray and his brother Sonny staffed the first Charleston branch of Johnson Service Company (now Johnson Controls, Inc.) out of Sonny’s garage, with Ray embarking upon a career as a pipefitter with Johnson that would span nearly half a century and provide him with additional skills as electrician, plumber, welder, stonemason, and carpenter. In 1953, overcoming his natural shyness, Ray courted Mary Agnes Dennie; they were married the following year. The life they created together would include six children, twelve grandchildren (to whom he became “Papa Bud”), three great-grandchildren, and many baccalaureate and advanced academic degrees. Their lives centered on a house in Charleston that Ray built himself soon after their marriage; it was full of fixtures and ingenious modifications that he devised in his workshop and woodshop. When not toiling in the service of his family or working quietly in the workshop, Ray was busy clearing brush at his “farm” along Dutch Ridge, fishing for native Brook Trout, hunting in the national forest adjacent to his beloved Blackwater Falls State Park, or playing the occasional round of golf. He and Mary were longtime pillars of St. Anthony Church and St. Anthony School, with Ray performing years of handyman work there and Mary helping to run the Rectory office; the pair would eventually earn the St. Anthony Lifetime Achievement Award for service to the parish.  Over the years, the family was visited with tragedy, but Ray and Mary persevered, bolstered by the many friends who responded instinctively to their inherent kindness. Through it all, Ray was known for his quiet bearing, his gentle humor, his creative intelligence, and his unwavering sense of loyalty to friends and family. He was solid as a rock. He was hewn from hard wood. He was an engineer without an engineering degree, a Zen priest without a temple, a philosopher who didn’t say much.

A mass of Christian burial will be held 11:00 a.m. Friday, October 28 at St. Anthony Catholic Church, 1000 6th Street, Charleston, WV, with the Rev. William Petro officiating. Visitation will precede the mass by one hour at the church.

In lieu of flowers, the Keener family requests that donations be made to the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation.

Condolences may be sent to the family at www.barlowbonsall.com .

Barlow Bonsall Funeral Home, Charleston, is serving the Keener family.