Jimmie Don Keller

On January 23, 2025, after a long and fulfilling life, Jimmie Don “Jim” Keller, 83, of Bullhead City, Arizona, passed away at his home with his wife Kathleen “Kay” Steele (Keller) by his side.

Jim was born in Los Angeles, California to Mack C. Keller and Hattie Louise Pigg (Keller). He spent his formative years in Los Angeles, with his parents and sister Bonnie, moving to Long Beach, California prior to attending Jordan High School in the mid-1950’s. After graduating from high school, Jim’s never-ending love and reverence for his country drove him to join the United States Army where he proudly served in the State of Alaska for several years.

In 1960, married Sylvia Jean Hainsworth. They settled in Southern California and started a family, welcoming a son David. Sadly Sylvia became ill and passed, leaving Jim a widower with a young adolescent child.

In 1982, Jim married Sandra Paavola (Keller), blending their two families, becoming a father to her two young children, Debi and Steve. Living and raising their family in Southern California, until Jim’s retirement from Sparkletts Water Company in 1994. Sadly, Sandra passed in 1999, shortly after they relocated to Bullhead City, Arizona.

During the decades he worked for Sparkletts, Jim was assigned to the Hollywood area serving in sales and delivery to many movie studios and movie stars personal residences. Jim prided himself on never missing a day of work during his long career. He often told his daughter Debi, “they are counting on me”. During his career, Jim received several accolades, including Top Salesman of the Year. Over the years, the kids and grandkids loved to hear his many stories of being on movie sets and the movie stars he met, like Danny Thomas, Mel Brooks, Lucille Ball, and his personal favorite, due to the kindness he showed over several years, Joe Namath. This spurred his passion for collecting and sharing his love of movie memorabilia with his family.

Jim’s other major passion was anything and everything baseball. He had a huge wealth of baseball trivia knowledge. When Arizona finally got their own MLB team, Jim eagerly became the Diamondbacks #1 fan, only conflicted when they played his LA Dodgers. Over the years, Jim has enjoyed several road trips with his long-time buddies to stadiums throughout the United States. His friends can be rest assured that their escapades on those trips are safe from ever being divulged. Because although Jim loved to share a funny story with his large, blended family, he also stuck to the nicknames only he used for his crew of friends: The Winemaker, Reno Eddie, The Fisherman, The Giant, The Bread Maker, etc.

In 2004, Jim fell in love and married Kay Steele. Kay and Jim bonded over their shared love of dancing, laughing, eating out and spending time with friends, traveling, watching Hallmark movies, and spending time with their blended family on camping trips and family vacations.

Lastly, Jimmie Don Keller, sincerely loved the United States of America. He was so very proud of his service to our Nation. He never missed an opportunity to do his civic duty and vote – he was so proud to have been able to vote in last Fall’s National election and live to watch the inauguration of our 47th President. Like the true patriot he was, it honestly was his dying wish.

Jim was preceded in death by both his parents Mack and Hattie Keller, his first wife Sylvia and their son David, as well as his second wife Sandra.

Jim is survived by an ever-growing blended family, his bride of 20 years, Kay Steele (Keller), his sister Bonnie Keller Deaube (Danny) of Oregon, his daughter Debi Hargrove (Lance) of Fort Mohave, Arizona, son Steve Paavola of Alaska, as well as Kay’s adult children, Robert Jacobsen, Lance Jacobsen, Lynn Steele-Pearson (Bart), and Kellie Steele. Jim also enjoyed spending time with his 9 grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren, 8 (step) bonus-grandchildren, and 5 bonus-great grandchildren.

Please join us in a celebration of Jim’s life as he is laid to rest next to his parents at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, February 15, at the Rainbow Chapel in Rose Hills Memorial Park, Whittier, California. A viewing will be held on the same morning at the Rose Hills Visitors’ Center at 9:00 a.m. A Graveside service with full military honors and luncheon reception will immediately follow. In Jim’s honor, please wear your favorite baseball team’s hat.

In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation in Jim’s name to an organization near and dear to his heart, the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, www.t2t.org.