Thomas Ronan Keeley, 81, passed away peacefully from natural causes on Sunday, October 9th, 2016, at the Genesis HealthCare Center in Butte.
Tom was born on April 27th, 1935 to Helen and Edward Keeley in Butte, Montana. He graduated from the Immaculate Conception Grade School, Boys' Central High School, and attended Gonzaga University before joining Marine Corp. He returned to Butte where he worked his entire career for the E. J. Keeley Company. After retirement, however, he found great joy in being a Senior Companion until illness dictated a second retirement.
In his younger days, Tom excelled at golf and loved playing rounds with his friends at the Butte Country Club. In more recent years, he enjoyed watching the golfers from his deck on the #6 tee box at the Country Club. With frequent phone calls from his sister Kay with the TV schedule, he enjoyed watching Gonzaga basketball and Notre Dame football games. However, all of those hobbies took second place to attending the sporting events of his children, grandchildren, nieces, and nephews - you could always count on him to be the first one to arrive, well in advance of game time. In recent years, he looked forward to his weekly calls in the football season with his daughter Kelli to hear how son-in-law Ron Wisniewski's Red Mountain Lions did in their game that week.
Tom is survived by his daughter and son-in-law Kelli and Ron Wisniewski, of Mesa, Arizona and sister and brother-in-law Kay and Joe Devlin of Bonner, Montana; former wives Sonya Dickenson of Chandler, AZ, Lynn Keeley of Mesa, AZ, and Jeri Dixon of Butte. He leaves also granddaughter Candace Keeley and grandchildren Brady and Makenzie Wisniewski of Mesa, AZ. Also dear to him were Will Scott and Carlee Scott Hanson and their children. He will be sorely missed also by nieces and nephews Ellen Keeley Oh (Duk) of Portland, OR, Beth Munro (Mark) of Missoula, MT, Maura Dunn (Steve) of Seattle, WA, John Keeley (Mollie) of Butte, MT, Keeley Devlin Wells (Billy) of Potomic, MT, Tomi Briggeman (Tom) of Kalispell, MT, Mary Panchot (Richard) of Clinton, MT, and Michael Devlin of Bonner, MT. In recent years, grand-nieces and grand-nephew Emma, Mia, and Jack Keeley looked forward to having Tom meet them at the bus after school.
Tom was preceded in death by his parents Ed and Helen Keeley, his sons Tommy and Eddy Keeley, brother Jack Keeley, and niece Patti Devlin Johnson.
A special note of gratitude must be made to all those who helped Tom during his final years, but especially John Keeley who did the necessary heavy lifting with joy and kindness and always a smile.
A memorial mass to celebrate the life of Tom will be held at St Ann's Church on Wednesday October 12th at 10:00am. Family visitation will begin at 9:00am. Tom's body has been donated to Washington State University to advance medical education. Memorials in Tom's name may be made to a charity of your choice or to the Senior Companions of Butte or to the Butte Emergency Food Bank.
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