Keith ""Care Bear"" Reaves

Keith was born on October 29, 1955 to the marriage of L.B. Reaves and Maxine Lockhart. My brother was seven years older than me. Our relationship didn't start at my birth and up until 1973 at age ten I thought I was an only child. I came home from school one day and my father asked me very plainly if I would like to meet my brother. Naturally I was quite confused. Our father explained to me about his bitter divorce and how he gave up parental rights when Keith was very young somewhere around age two. In fact Keith's step father ended up adopting Keith and when I first met Keith he had assumed the last name of Nielson. Keith had been told our father was killed in a car crash. I assume this was to throw Keith off any desire to reunite with his real father. You see Keith was raised in several broken homes with really no stable father figure. Then it happened one day when Keith was seventeen and reading the local newspaper he came across our father's name in the newspaper. He then began to question family and with the help of his maternal grandparents he was able to track down his father. Keith learned my mother and our father had been married for 14 years. To Keith this resembled stability and being so openly accepted by his real father and new family, it was easy for Keith to want to be a part of our wonderful family. The best thing for me being ten years old was that I was given the gift of a big brother. Now how cool is that. In 1973 Keith, a product of the anti-war flower child culture , was proud to tell our father when he turned eighteen he was going to burn his draft card. Fortunately for Keith he did so over a telephone conversation. Because our father, a conservative World War Two Veteran, not happy with his son's proposed action invited Keith to come home to burn his draft card so that he could personally insert one size nine boot into Keith's behind. I remember listening to our father during that particular phone conversation about draft cards and I think that day we both learned from our father about freedom, patriotism and integrity. So ironically in 1973 Keith joined the Air Force shortly after he graduated high school. While in the Air Force Keith sought legal help to approach the court and have his name restored to Reaves. He joined the Air Force to see the world and ended up stationed at NORAD near Colorado Springs. Keith was honorably discharged in 1978 and began his life in here Colorado. Through the years Keith still maintained a strong relationship with our father making sure our father was a part of his life. It was some time in the 1980's Keith began to associate with and learn the culture of the Lakota Tribes of the Dakotas. Keith immersed himself in a culture with traditions that can be characterized as spirituality integrated into a rhythm of life that includes all aspects and patterns of the universe. Keith passed through several ceremonial rites to increase his spirituality. More importantly Keith began to serve mankind. Keith being of the Vietnam era was very proactive in affairs dealing with Native American Veterans. His philanthropy and generosity did not stop there. He began to travel frequently from Colorado to the Lakota reservations. Keith completed various charity works as well participating in other ceremonies such as storytelling to the children of the Lakota. This is where Keith earned the name ""Care Bear"" because he once purchased an entire truck load of Care Bears and assorted stuffed animals and delivered them to the children on the Lakota reservation. I should point out to the best of my knowledge Keith and I have no Native American ancestry. Keith spent many years as a bachelor but not the typical type. Much of Keith's spare time was spent volunteering in soup kitchens, battered women and homeless shelters, especially during the holidays. In 2000 while working for the Little Public Schools he met Angie. A couple of months later he called to tell me he had met a hot little ""chica"" at work and was really falling for her. His relationship with Angie flourished so they decided to get married. Keith still wanting to make sure our father was very much a part of everything and with our fathers age of eighty limiting his travel came to California with his Fiancé' and one of his soon to be sons and was married on July Seventh, 2007. A very timely and eloquent event as our father passed two months later. Keith's ties with his Lakota family began to subside. This was not from disinterest or dysfunction but rather Keith had a new family with a wife and two young sons requiring Keith's love and devotion. His wife and two sons will attest they are in a better place having Keith in their lives. As you all may know Keith, a master diver, had a passion for the underwater. Keith traveled to the tropics almost annually to dive in some of the most beautiful waters in the world. Along with Keith's passion for diving were his love of his grandsons. So in closing I am going to leave you with a video my brother actually had made for one of his grandsons and we will all get to see through Keith's eyes some of the the beauty he enjoyed. A Memorial Service in Keith's honor will be held on Saturday, August 6, 2016 at Ten O'Clock in the morning at Horan & McConaty Funeral Service, 3101 South Wadsworth Boulevard, Lakewood, Colorado. The family invites you to a reception following the service at Eleven O'Clock in the morning in the Horan & McConaty Reception Center. Please share your memories of Keith ""Care Bear"" and offer condolences to his family by signing the guestbook below.