Keith L. Parker, 93

Keith Linwood Parker, son of Ethel McAlevey and Lawrence Linwood Parker, was born on June 30, 1927, and passed away July 22, 2020.

Keith grew up in Meredith, NH, during the Great Depression. Young Keith worked at farm chores from early childhood and at every for-hire opportunity during his youth. He was recalled by his second grade school teacher in Meredith as the brightest pupil she had ever taught. Childhood pastimes during those Depression years included bobsledding down Corliss Hill and fishing for pickerel on Lake Waukewan. Keith would bicycle into Laconia to work and pursue his fascination with airplanes. The Weirs boardwalk offered employment opportunities and so it was that he witnessed the old sidewheeler Mt. Washington burn at her pier in 1939.

High school education began in Laconia the fall of 1941. There Keith met Jane, daughter of the new school superintendent, Rhoden B. Eddy. Keith joined the Laconia ski team, performing all five events and becoming captain. Jane’s poetry showed that this made quite an impression on her. Keith’s love of skiing continued for as long as he was able. He had a life-long love of New Hampshire where he would later make his summer home.

The nation’s service beckoned, so upon graduation from Laconia High School in 1945 Keith joined the U.S. Navy. Keith became a navy yeoman, performing administration for the chief Chaplain in the Pacific theatre, based on Guam.

Keith attended Columbia University and achieved a degree in Business. He and Jane married upon their college graduations in 1950, and moved to New York City. They raised their six children living in the NYC suburb of Cranford, NJ, and later in La Cañada, CA. Their mutual romance lasted until Jane’s death in 1997.

Keith Parker worked in the financial sector all of his professional career, rising from an analyst at Standard & Poors on Wall Street to Chief Financial Officer at Mercury General Insurance in California, where he spent the last 22 years of his 43-year career. His advice was sought on investments in utility stocks which had been his special interest all of his professional life.

Keith is predeceased by his wife Jane in 1997, and by his son Thomas in 2015. He is survived by sons James, Anthony and Steven, and by daughters Alexandra and Susan.