Jessica Erin Keele
Jessica Erin Keele, 40, Grand Isle, La., died at 6:28 a.m. Friday, Nov. 15, 2019, at Majestic Care of West Allen, Fort Wayne.
She was born June 27, 1979, in Columbia City, a daughter of Cecil E. and Mary Lou (McNabb) Keele. Her formative years were spent in the South Whitley, where she attended Whitko High School, later earning her GED from Huntington North High School.
Through her school years, she participated with the band playing the flute. She enjoyed painting and writing poetry. Afflicted with multiple sclerosis in her early twenty’s, she moved to Phoenix, Ariz. seeking warmer, dryer weather to aid her condition. She later moved to Grand Isle, La., where she worked at one of the island’s gift shops.
Diagnosed with a malignant, aggressive brain tumor, she returned to the area for further treatment.
She leaves behind a son, Dallas Keele of Indianapolis; her mother, Mary Lou Keele of Columbia City; a brother, Aaron T. Keele of Steilacoom, Wash.; her beloved dogs, Madison and Katana; a dear friend, Missy McGinnis, and a godson, Robert Love of Columbia City.
She was preceded in death by her grandfather, Cecil Keele, and her birth mother, Marcel R. Keele.
A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 24, at Collamer Christian Church, 5850 South 900 West, South Whitley. Interment is at the Jefferson Chapel–Sandbank cemetery.
Arrangements were entrusted to Smith & Sons Funeral Home, Columbia City.
Preferred memorials are to Cancer Services of NE Indiana or the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation.