EIF-A_Lasting Contributions

LASTING CONTRIBUTIONS
WORDS WRITTEN BY KEITEL’S
DAUGHTER, ALLISON HARRINGTON:
Who was Paul Keitel? My dad was
a man full of life. When looking back
on his life, all you can see is his smile.
All you can hear is his laugh. All you
can feel is the love and support he
so effortlessly gave. My dad was a
simple man who did not need much in
life to be happy but yet worked hard
to give his family an extraordinary
life. A simple man who only needed
his faith, family, and friends.
When you hear stories about him,
it’s hard to believe that he was just
one man. How can someone accomplish
so much in life? How could
someone be so selfless that they would
have given you the shirt off their
back? My dad never asked why, he
would ask when and where. While he
may sound perfect, he did have flaws
but those flaws were so outweighed by
the good things that now looking past
the grief of losing him, there’s nothing
but pride. The pride to have been able
to know my dad, Paul Keitel.
Paul a great umpire but a wonderful man
who enjoyed baseball. He has inspired me to
start my own journey umping baseball.”
Both the DeWitt and North Scott communities
provided support for the Keitel family
during their battle with cancer.
“The support cannot be described, from a
Go Fund Me page to contributions from gate
fees when DeWitt played North Scott,” Terri
said.
The community came out to harvest his
land during his last months on the farm as
he watched with tears of gratitude from his
pickup truck. Medical bills totaled in the
millions with community support paying the
deductible.
Numerous times the doctors wanted to
send Keitel home with hospice but he refused
saying, “No, I want to fight, I don’t want
anyone thinking I did not fight.”
Dr. Sabarish Ayapan in Iowa City recognized
that fight in Keitel and did everything
he could to save him, Terri said. They were
sent home on a Friday in September 2021,
with Keitel being given three days to live.
Their daughter Allison moved up her wedding
to that Saturday on the farm so her dad
could walk her down the aisle and dance one
last dance.
The following Monday, he was given an
experimental drug that could give him six
more months to live. Five months later he
died.
Shortly before passing, he took one last
ride on his tractor, having read Philippians
4:6-7: “Do not be anxious about anything,
but in everything by prayer and supplication
with thanksgiving let your requests be made
known to God. And the peace of God, which
surpasses all understanding, will guard your
hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
A picture of that last ride and that last
verse he read are inscribed on the tombstone
at his gravesite.
Keitel’s legacy lives on. Each of their children
— Jennifer, Allision, and Christopher
— have tattooed on their arms the saying
their dad taught them, instilled by his parents
to Keitel and then to his children, “The only
thing you take with you to the grave is your
good name.” n
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