Harry S. Keller III ’56 died on October 24, 2022, in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania.
(The following was provided by the Allen Funeral Home on October 24, 2022)
Harry S. Keller III ’56
Harry Summy Keller, III (Hal) 87, passed away on Monday October 24, 2022, surrounded by family. He was a renaissance man loving the classics, international travel, finance, literature and coastal Maine. He was born on December 30, 1934, the oldest child of Bernice and Harry Summy Keller Jr.
Siblings include Sally, who predeceased him in 2021, and his brother James of Bloomsburg. Hal attended kindergarten thru 6th grade at Benjamin Franklin Training School at the local Bloomsburg State College. As a young man in Bloomsburg, he attained the Boy Scout rank of an Eagle Scout. Hal was a boarder and graduated from Wyoming Seminary Preparatory School. He attended Bowdoin College in Brunswick, ME, graduating in 1956 cum laude with a BA in political science. Hal lived three years at the ATO fraternity and was consistently on the honor roll and a James Bowdoin scholar. He took two years of 4th century B.C. Attic Greek which led to a lifelong interest in the fourth and fifth B.C. Greek culture, history, and archeology.
He served two years with the Army 47th MASH unit in Fort Riley, Kansas. Hal became a second lieutenant at college graduation with the ROTC program and made rank of captain before leaving the Army Reserves. His basic training was at Fort Bragg, NC, with the 82nd Airborne. Hal served in the Medical Service Corps, and he trained at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, TX.
Hal was a lifetime member of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Bloomsburg where he served in many roles such as junior, senior and accounting warden and eighteen years as a lay eucharistic minister. He was an acolyte as a youth and in retirement was an enthusiastic volunteer for the Columbia County Historical Society.
He was happily married to Carol Brooks Foley of Plymouth, MA, from 1957 to 1994. Hal is survived by two daughters, Diana Fernandez (Ricardo) and Erin Holmgren (Hans). Grandchildren include Katarina Hill (Colin), Helena Chao (Silas) and Gabriel Fernandez (Savannah). Great grandchildren include Linnea and Stellan Hill. He is also survived by Elizabeth (Betty) Palmer Keller with whom he enjoyed twenty-six years of marriage. Survivors include Anne Krasny (Walter), Adrienne Banavage, Andrew Krasny (Helen) and Peter Krasny.
Hal was a senior managing partner in the family business Keller Wholesale. He and his brother James were the third generation to run the family business, which was established in 1872 and located on Main Street. Hal retired in 2006 and continued to enjoy his lifelong passion for investing in the stock market, his property on River Hill and spending time with his extended family, including his beloved canine companions Lizzy and Max.