52 Ancestors - Week 11 - Achievement

52 Ancestors – WEEK 11 – Achievement

By Cynthia Keefer Patton

I sat and pondered as I looked at my family tree on Ancestry. I kept asking “who achieved something?”

Who achieved something? I have. I have completed a successful career in the Army followed by a second career as a Defense Contractor. I have farmed, renovated, and managed properties, and now spend time as a professional genealogist.

I don’t want to write about myself.

Who achieved something? My little brother Kevin Keefer. We lost him in 2013 and oh how I miss him. He achieved a lot in his life. He started out as a young teenager working for an ambulance company as an EMT. It was part of earning his Eagle Scout, which he did. A great achievement.

He left high school and went to work full-time. He saw that as something he regretted, but none of his siblings thought any less of him. He was self-sufficient and hard working. He became a firefighter, and then a respiratory therapist. He worked his way up in a volunteer fire department to become the Chief. He had three beautiful daughters and when his marriage failed, he did his best to survive.

He was troubled by the demons of the horrible and sad things he witnessed in all his occupations. He drank more than he should and smoked even though he better than anyone knew it was dangerous. He got esophageal cancer, and it took him at the age of 52.

He had achieved living a solid life, working the jobs that not everyone will take on, sowing and weeding his garden, hunting, cooking his favorite country dishes, listening to his beloved music from the 70’s, and hanging out with good friends.

He was a good man, a great brother, a father who cherished his children, and a hard worker. A great achievement.