Obituary of Keith Forgrave

Keith Forgrave 1954 - 2018 FORGRAVE, Keith Royal – It is with profound sadness that the family of Keith Forgrave announces his passing after a nearly 10 years long, valiant battle with kidney disease, on Thursday, January 11th, 2018 at the age of 63 years. Keith was born on December 2, 1954 to Harry and Violet Forgrave at Spiritwood Union Hospital in Spiritwood, Saskatchewan. He grew up with his brothers and sisters on the family farm in the Barnes Lake District. Keith went to school in Spiritwood, where he met Donald Purdy. Through Don, Keith met the love of his life, Don’s sister Cheryl. Keith and Cheryl were married August 2, 1975 and went on to have two beautiful children, Katrina and Shaun. As a young family Keith and Cheryl lived for 6 years in Quesnel, BC. It wasn’t long though, and the lure of home and family brought them back to Spiritwood in 1983. Keith worked at many different jobs over the years, but the one he liked the best and did the longest was cutting meat. He worked at the Super A in Spiritwood until he and Cheryl moved to Prince Albert in 2002, where he continued to work as a meat cutter at Sobey’s. In 2009, Keith was forced into early retirement due to full renal failure brought on by Polycystic Kidney Disease. Although Keith was very ill for a lot of the last nine years of his life, he didn’t let it stop him from living life. In 2015 Keith and Cheryl, along with Katrina and Tessa, celebrated their 40th Wedding Anniversary in Nashville, Tennessee. While there, Keith lived out lifelong dreams of seeing a show at the Grand Ole Opry, touring the Ryman Auditorium and visiting Graceland, the home of Elvis Presley, in Memphis, Tennessee. Friends and family were a very important part of Keith’s life. He loved playing his guitar and jamming with friends at the Carlton Trail Jamboree and getting together with friends and family for a delicious meal and a good visit or a intense game of Trivial Pursuit or some raucous hands of Kaiser. He was very creative and loved to draw, and he had a great sense of humor and a stinging wit, that he held onto until the very end. Keith was also an avid fisherman, and he and Cheryl loved to pack up their camper and go camping with their special group of lifelong friends. Anybody that knew Keith, knew he was an animal lover. A character trait he inherited from his mom and dad. Over the years, Keith and Cheryl had many cats and dogs as a part of the family, with their current furry family member being a special little dog named Pumpkin. Like most people, Keith had many different aspects to his personality. He absolutely loved music, the great country classics being his favorite. When younger, he was a consummate bookworm and loved to watch both old and new Western movies. Keith loved to dance, and he and Cheryl spent many evenings taking old time dance lessons at Shell Lake Hall or cutting a rug at the Timberland Rodeo Dance. Survivors include his loving wife Cheryl (née Purdy), his children Katrina and Shaun (Kaelee née Gilchrist) Forgrave, and his grandchildren Tessa Forgrave, Parker and Piper Forgrave. He also leaves to mourn his brother Brian (Sheila) Forgrave, sister Viona (Don) Purdy, sister Laurie (Brian) Seguin and brother Curtis (Karin Friedrichsen) Forgrave, and many nieces, nephews, great nieces and great nephews. Although Keith only lived to the age of 63, he managed to squeeze a lot of living into his short life and he will be sadly missed and forever loved. Funeral Services were held on Tuesday January 16, 2018 at 2:00 pm from the Spiritwood Civic Centre with Reverend Nora Borgeson officiating. The soloist was Patty Heisler and the eulogy was given by Tina Stene. Honorary Pallbearers were considered all “Keith’s nieces, nephews, great nieces and great nephews”, Logan Stene acted as the urn bearer. Immediately following the service, the family invited all present for lunch and fellowship in the hall. Keith’s final resting place will be in the Ranger Cemetery at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial donations be made to the Kidney Foundation of Canada in memory of Keith Forgrave as tokens of remembrance. Family and friends wishing to send online condolences are welcome to visit www.beaulacfuneralhome.com. Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to the care of Beau "Lac" Funeral Home, Edward Beaulac, Funeral Director, Spiritwood (306-883-3500).