Obituary of Ann Burton Keck

Julia Ann Burton, known for the better part of her Life as Ann Keck, passed away peacefully in her own home just before sunrise on Sunday August 21, 2022, at the age of 92. She joins her beloved husband, Jules Medlin Keck, and son, David Burton Keck, in the Eternal Home.

A true red-headed Gemini spirit, Ann will be remembered as a fun loving and creative nurturer. Her sewing and quilting skills were unmatched, she loved the color green, Siamese cats, dolls, puzzles (especially the newspaper crossword which she and Jules completed in their bathrobes and slippers in a morning coffee ritual at the kitchen table for years), flower arranging, baking, holiday decorating, classical music and Westerns. She was active in her community, a faithful church goer who spent many years playing in the handbell choir and volunteering in the church office. Always perfectly put together in snappy color coordinated outfits and smelling of Liquid Neutrogena soap, she took pleasure in creating beauty and order in the world.

Ann was a consummate storyteller and her tales of childhood years in Appomattox during WWII; a trio of magical spinster aunts Bessie, Alice, and Emma Jane in Pasadena, California; her time as a legal secretary for two brothers (whose mother had grand plans to marry her off to one of them) when her dashing blue eyed officer Jules walked in, dropped his hat and swept her away to the movies and off her feet, and so many more stories that will always be treasured. 

Holding dear her Memory as Mother and Mimi are her three daughters: Karen (Dennis), Carolyn, and Jennifer (Stuart); six grandchildren: Allison, Chad (Katie), Kara, Katie (Timmy), Chris, and Reganne; and six great grandchildren: Ayla, Holt, Kaia, Davis, Julia, and Maeve.

A graveside service will be held Monday, August 29, 2022, at 4pm at Sherwood Memorial Park in Salem. All are welcome to join us in this Remembrance, whether in person or in spirit. If you have any memories of Ann you’d like to share, please do! Use the comments below or send an email to acampbell04@gmail.com.