ALVIN KEITH obituary

GRAND FORKS, N.D. - Alvin R. Keith, 80, a Navy veteran and former Great Falls, Havre and Chester resident, died Saturday at his home in Grand Forks, N.D.

Visitation was Tuesday at Gregory J. Norman Funeral Chapel followed by a prayer service. Cremation has taken place. A military grave-

side service is planned for 10 a.m. Saturday at Highland Cemetery at Havre. A luncheon will follow at the Vets Club.

Alvin Russell Keith was born on April 26, 1923, to DeVall W. and Hazel V. (Staudacher) Keith at Great Falls. His family moved to Chester where he graduated from high school. He entered the U.S. Navy in 1943. He served in the Pacific Theater during World War II and separated in 1946.

He married Fern E. Heydon on Dec. 28, 1945, in Shelby. After the war, he returned to Chester and worked for his family's bulk oil business. In 1949, he began working for the Great Northern Railway in Havre, then Great Falls. He moved to Grand Forks in 1969. He retired from the Burlington Northern Railway in 1981 as a supervisor of locomotives.

He was preceded in death by his parents; sister, Thelma Piner; and brothers, Lloyd and Robert.

Survivors include his wife, Fern Keith of Grand Forks; daughters, Jane (Ricky) Smith of Moorhead, Minn., and Sharlot (Darrell) Gebert of O'Fallon, Ill.; son, Gene (Mary) Keith of Havre; 11 grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; cousin, Earl Keith of Chester; and many nieces and nephews.

Memorials may be made to the American Cancer Society.