Obituary of Keith Street

Keith Merlin Street, 79, Wapello, Iowa, died at Mercy Hospital, Iowa City, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2006. Cremation rites have been accorded. Gathering of friends and relatives at 1 p.m. Sunday, followed by 2 p.m. memorial service at Bloomington-Muscatine Friends Church, 2698 180th St., Muscatine. Special prayers will be offered during Sunday worship services at Iowa Friends churches including Hesper, Bloomington-Muscatine, Salem and Center near Newton. Burial will be at the Hesper Public Cemetery, Hesper, Winneshiek County, at a later date. The son of Guilford and Iva Quaintance Street, he was born June 16, 1927, at the home of his maternal grandparents, Otis and Mary Morgan Quaintance, in Oskaloosa. He attended rural township schools in Marshall, Jasper and Muscatine counties, and graduated from Muscatine High School in 1944. He graduated from William Penn College in Oskaloosa in 1949 with a bachelor of arts degree, and from Western Illinois University in Macomb, Ill., with a master of science in education. He also attended Iowa State University, University of Iowa, Monmouth College, Denver University, University of Colorado, Utah State University, Southeastern Iowa Community College and Muscatine Community College. He entered the U.S. Army in August 1945 and was discharged in November 1946, after having served in Jefferson Barracks, Mo.; Camp Hood, Texas; Fort Bliss, Texas; Fort Ord, Calif.; and Fort Lawton, Wash. He was a teacher and coach in several Iowa high schools: Oakville High School from 1949-1951; Clemons Independent High School from 1952-1953, Deep River Independent High School from 1953-1956 and Wapello High School from 1956- 1984. He was active in both local and state education associations. He worked for shorter periods of time as a farm hand, conservation aide for the U.S. Soil Conservation Service; painting and repairing city water towers for the National Tank Maintenance Co.; making farm surveys for the U.S. Department of Agriculture; repairing refrigeration devices with his own repair service. He also operated his own income tax preparation service; served as a courthouse researcher for several businesses; was a professional genealogical researcher for others; prepared and published several genealogical books and diaries. He married Elizabeth Gerst on June 2, 1956, in Oakville. She died in 1986. He married Connie Alexander Dobert on June 20, 1989, at the Salem Friends Church. After retiring from teaching in 1984, he was elected a Louisa County Supervisor in 1986, and served a four-year term. He had many interests. As a volunteer with the Louisa County Democratic Party, he and wife Elizabeth joined President Jimmy Carter for dinner at the White House when the U.S. Department of Education was established. He was instrumental in organizing the Louisa County Genealogical Society, and served as a state officer and state board member of both the Iowa Genealogical Society and the Iowa Refrigeration Engineers Society. He was also instrumental in organizing the State Association for the Preservation of Iowa Cemeteries and served as one of the first members of the Louisa County Cemetery Commission. He was a lifelong member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Iowa, and was an active member of the Bloomington-Muscatine Friends Meeting, where he had been the assistant clerk of the Monthly Meeting for several years. Survivors include his wife, Connie; four daughters, Laura and husband Mark Chaplin of Sugar Grove, Ill.; Julie and husband Robert Minder of Muscatine; Sheilah and husband Jon Woods of Muscatine; Alisa Brown of Wapello; a step-son Alan Dobert and wife Kitty of Muscatine; and step-daughter, Beth Rippenkroeger, 23 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Besides his first wife, he was preceded in death by his parents and one brother Claire Street. The recipient of memorial donations will be William Penn University.