Elmer B Keller

Funeral services will be held at 2:00 p.m. Wednesday, September 2, 2009 in Grace Lutheran Church in Strasburg with Rev. Michael Mohr officiating. Visitation from 12:00-2:00 p.m. Wednesday in the church. Burial will be in Stewardson Cemetery, Stewardson, IL with military rites by Wilbur Broughton American Legion Post #611 of Stewardson. Arrangements are by Howe and Yockey Funeral Home, Strasburg. Memorials may be given to Grace Lutheran Church, American Diabetes Association or American Lung Association.

Mr. Keller was born on July 26, 1919 in Shumway, IL, the son of Ben and Augusta Facklam Keller. He graduated from Stewardson High School in the Class of 1936 and was a veteran of WW II serving in the U.S. Marines. He was a former railway mail clerk and served as the postmaster in Stewardson from 1964 – 1987. Elmer was a member of Grace Lutheran Church of Strasburg, Wilbur Broughton American Legion Post #611 of Stewardson, Effingham VFW Post #1769, National Association of Retired Federal Employees and a charter member of the Stewardson Lions Club. He married Marcella L. Brummerstedt on September 22, 1946. She died on April 2, 1999. He married Sally Albin on January 1, 2003.

Surviving are his wife, Sally; children, Cathy (Ed) Rauch of Mason, OH and Rick (Dana) Keller of Effingham, IL; step-children, Ken (Mary) Meeker of Orlando, FL and Diane Paraiso of Strasburg; grandchildren, Adam (Amy) Rauch, Thad (Shelley) Rauch, Holly (Scott) Gibson, Lindsay (Carl IV) Kuhl, Ben Keller, Brendan Keller and Blair Keller; step-grandchildren, Geoff (Andrea) Meeker, Claire (Al) Poynter and Gus Paraiso; great grandchildren, Destinee, Jacob and Gabriel Rauch, Noah, Brannen and Ainsley Rauch, Cross, Sage, Sailor, Crayton, Crew, and Sable Gibson, Reagan and Carl Kuhl V; and step great grandchildren, Taylor Paraiso, Madelaine Meeker and Charles Poynter.

He was preceded in death by his parents; first wife, Marcella; one brother; and two sisters.