Cover photo for Dorothy A. Keen's Obituary
Dorothy A. Keen Profile Photo
1932 Dorothy 2022

Dorothy A. Keen

January 1, 1932 — April 25, 2022

Dorothy Ann Keen peacefully joined her Lord and Savior on April 25th, 2022 at home surrounded by loving family and friends. Born to Walter and Anna Salak Davitt on October 25, 1932, she was both a graduate of Waymart High School and the Columbia Presbyterian School of Nursing. She achieved legendary status giving birth to 7 daughters and shaping these rapscallions into kind and thoughtful souls while building a campground and cottage business with her soulmate, James Lee Keen. Jim and Dorothy’s vision of Keen Lake was to create a gathering place for families to connect with each other and nature. As she heralded family time, she ingeniously shepherded in the next generation of agents by generously offering their children early employment-- picking rocks, cleaning bathhouses, game rooms, and cottages, dipping ice cream, and bailing water slogged boats on drippy, rainy days. As her progeny grew taller, she just as generously nudged them out of the nest to be educated and to experience the world. All were invited back to take over the lake business when she and Jim were ready for their next chapter. Dorothy was a fierce and formidable angler. On many days there were few fish that could avoid her deftly cast line; on others daughter Jane was there to untangle it. She would freeze each neatly fileted blue gill to be presented at an eagerly awaited fall family fish fry. She enjoyed traveling, particularly her fall get aways with her daughter Jim Ann and her annual sojourns to Fort Myers Beach, Florida. She looked forward to gardening, beach time, and cocktails with friends and family---in no particular order. But mostly, she looked forward to people and sharing laughter. She loved her home and greeted all who came with a smile, great food, and a glass. Her reputation for hospitality was widely-known, and she always made room for more at the table. She was a devout Catholic who loved our God. She began every day in prayer and knew that God and Fathers Reagan and Tracy understood when she was sometimes late for service as 7 immaculately clean and tidy children, some with sleep still in their eyes, trip trapped in behind her. Dorothy was a firm yet fun-loving matriarch, a loving and devoted wife, a supportive and protective mother, a tender and benevolent grandmother and great grandmother and a collector of people. She thought everyone had an interesting story to tell and would spend as much time with the cooks and waitstaff on a river ship as she would with her fellow passengers. Her beloved great-grandson, Teddy quoted Albus Dumbledore when saying goodbye to his Grammy. “Dumbledore says that death is the next great adventure.” Dorothy’s adventure with God will have her join her beloved husband, James, her mother and father, her in-laws, Ida Lee and James Neil Keen, her sister-in-law Patricia, her son-in-law, William Wertz, her grandson, James Biggs, and a wealth of dear friends and neighbors. She leaves the task of continuing to fill the world with light, laughter, and love to her two brothers, Gerald Davitt and wife, Mary of Jeffersonville, NY, Jack Davitt of Jacksonville, FL , seven daughters, Janet Keen, Judith Pont (Gregory), Jennifer Wertz (Michael), Jane Kopa (Michael), and Joyce Debastiani (Dean) of Waymart, Jeanne Keen of Arizona City, AZ and Jim Ann Petroski (Charles) of Honesdale, eleven grandchildren-- Sarah Wood (Ethan), Pierre-Alexandre and Jean-Daniel Pont (Leslie), Will Wertz, Michael (Claire)and Matthew (Mary Catherine) Kopa, Paige, Dean (Heather), and Gianna DeBastiani and Ciarra (Mitch) and Tristan Petroski, and four great-grandchildren Teddy and Lizzy Wood, Harper Kopa, and Seraphina Pont. We invite friends to celebrate her life and to share their memories and stories with her family. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Thursday at 11 a.m. at St. Mary’s Church, 242 Carbondale Road, Waymart. All attending are asked to go directly to the church. Viewing will be on Wednesday from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Jenkins-Howell Funeral Home, Inc., Edward R. Howell Funeral Director, 269 Belmont Street, Waymart, PA 18472. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to St. Mary’s Catholic Church, PO Box 160, Waymart, PA 18472. Interment will be on Thursday in Keen Cemetery.
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Service Schedule

Past Services

Viewing

Wednesday, April 27, 2022

3:00 - 7:00 pm (Eastern time)

Jenkins - Howell Funeral Home

269 Belmont St, Waymart, PA 18472

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Funeral Mass

Thursday, April 28, 2022

Starts at 11:00 am (Eastern time)

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