Born November 11th

Keith was born November 11, 1970. Keith was a big fan of trivia, so he would probably be interested in famous people throughout history who shar his birthday.

Here is a sampling . . .

Abigail Adams born 1744. Wife of President John Adams and mother of President John Quincy Adams.

Leonardo DiCaprio born 1974. Actor. What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Titanic, Catch me if you can.

Hugh Everett born 1930. Quantum Physicist.

Patrick Knowles born 1911. Actor - Played the Wolfman. Keith was always fascinated with the numbers associated with his birthday and would think this guys birthday 11-11-11 something to howl over.

Marc Summers born 1951. Game Show Host. Keith is a big fan of game shows and was always a fan of shows like Double Dare on Nickelodeon whic Summers hosted.

Joanthan winters born 1925. Comedian. Played the son of Mork and Mindy in the ABC sitcom of the same name. Keith and I always liked quoting Mork saying things like "Never go to Pluto, it's a Mickey Mouse planet.

Chess

Keith loved Chess. He was a good player and a good teacher. My son Charlie took a homeschool chess class last year. The last time Charlie saw Keith alive, Keith was helping him with His Chess homework. I remember one time last year when I was visiting Keith in the Hospital. He and I played a game of Chess and I routed him which is not only unusual, its incomprehensible. I'll beat him once a decade but to dominate him, that's unheard of. After the chess game Keith took a nap and when he awoke, he did not remember me being there and certainly did not remember us playing. I'd like to think he was making that up. But when we played later, he beat my brains in which was the typical result. It was goog to know that he couldn't beat me in his sleep.

Today Charlie and I will play a chess game in your Memory.

A Mother's Memory Part I

My Mom had a few memories she wanted to share, Her is the first . . .

I remember shopping with Lynn & Keith for a crib for Bobby at Babies are us. When the 2 young men who loaded the purchases into the car were speaking in Spanish to each other, I heard a third voice and was amazed to realize that Keith had joined right in in fluent Spanish like he was native to Mexico. I knew he had taken Spanish in high school, but I never knew he was so good at it. When I asked him about it, he said that he needed to communicate with the Spanish-speaking kids who helped him unload the truck(at McDonalds), and he learned it very well Spanish. I was really amazed to realize that he could converse so well in Spanish, and he didn’t think a thing of it.

Fred Astaire on Dick Cavett

Keith, like most of the Rollers, was a big television watcher. So when my mom recounted the particulars of his birth, I should not have been surprised. My mom was watching the Dick Cavett show at about 10:30 p.m. on Nov 10th. Fred Astaire was a guest. Mom went to the bathroom and found that it was time to get going to the hospital. This was before VCR's, TiVo, and the like, and my Mom wanted to stay a while longer and watch the interview (Which is so Keith.). My Dad intervened, and off they were to Des Plaines and some time around 2:30 A.M Keith was born.

But don't worry Mom, next year the prequel to Frost/Nixon is coming out. I hope you really enjoy Cavett/Astaire.

The Humor of Keith: Ham on Wry.

Keith had a great sense of humor. But the problem was that too often he had my sense of humor and I was already using it. When he wasn't trying to be me, his humor shone. Puns and song parodies can only get you so far. What he excelled in was observational humor.

One of my favorite lines I remember from Him was in describing my organizational system, or lack thereof.

A place for everything, and everything on the floor.

Not only did that comment describe me down to the empty file folder system next to the pile of papers, but it also showed the keen analytical mind that God gifted Him with.