Keith Wilson

Keith Emory Wilson, devoted husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather passed away peacefully at The Bird House hospice care facility in Iowa City, Iowa on June 9, 2021 at the age of 87 years. He had been a resident of Bettendorf, Iowa since 1972.

Keith was born in Garrison, Iowa on October 23, 1933 to Ernest and Elizabeth (Zimmer) Wilson, the youngest of four children.  He attended high school in Monroe, Wisconsin and graduated from Iowa State University with a BS degree in Architectural Engineering in 1957, and a MS degree in Civil Engineering in 1961. On March 2, 1963 he was united in marriage to the former Patricia Ann Osborne at the Little Brown Church in Nashua, Iowa, and together they successfully raised a family of six children and were later blessed with eleven grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

Keith had a love for a wide variety of music. It gave him great joy to attend his children’s and grandchildren’s band and choir performances through the years and he was a season ticket subscriber to the Quad City Symphony Orchestra and the Bucktown Revue of Davenport, Iowa. Keith was an avid sports fan as well, cheering on his children’s and grandchildren’s sports teams, his beloved Iowa State Cyclones, and the Pleasant Valley Spartans. Travel was another interest of his and trips throughout North America and Europe held fond memories.

For many years Keith was a member of the (unofficial) “Saturday Morning Breakfast Club” at the Hy-Vee in Bettendorf, Iowa and valued his time there with fellow retired engineer colleagues and other friends. He was a member of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Bettendorf, where he served on the Vestry, spearheaded architectural and engineering projects for the church, and volunteered his time serving in many ways within his community. In his retirement Keith was also a frequent visitor to the Crow Creek Dog Park in Bettendorf and could be found there often with his four-legged best friend Mollie, where he enjoyed photographing the great variety of dogs seen there.

Keith had a long and successful career as a structural engineer. Over the years he was employed with Peterson & Appell Structural Engineers (Des Moines, Iowa), Beling Engineering Consultants (Moline, Illinois), Shive-Hattery Architecture Engineering (Davenport, Iowa), and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at the Rock Island Arsenal. During his career he worked on numerous private and government projects and was particularly proud of his work in the design of the Davenport Public Library, the work he performed for Black Hawk College in Moline, Illinois, and his participation in the response to the Mississippi River Flood of 1993. He retired in 2009 at the age of seventy-five.

Keith was preceded in death by Patricia in 2006. He was also preceded in death by his daughters Jennifer and Jessica; his sisters Helen Myers and Fern Stueck; and by his parents. Keith is survived by his daughter Kathryn Hanf and her husband Mark of Jacksonville, Florida; his son David Wilson of Aurora, Illinois; his daughters Tresa Wynveen and her husband, Michael of Cascade, Wisconsin; Martha Wilson and her wife Gina Glass of Iowa City, Iowa; and Leslie Wilson of Indianapolis, Indiana. He is additionally survived by grandchildren Matthew, Mitch, Ashley, Allison, Jennifer, Grace, Emma, William, Kathryn, Sydney, and Alaina; great grandchildren Rachel and Hudson (due in July); his sister Shirley Sorensen of Waterloo, Iowa; and his nieces and many other well-loved extended family members.

Visitation will be from 2:00 P.M. to 4:00 P.M. Saturday, June 12, 2021 at the McGinnis-Chambers Funeral Home, Bettendorf, Iowa followed by funeral services at 4:00 P.M.. Contributions in his memory may be made to The Humane Society of Scott County, Davenport, Iowa (www.hssc.us), or The Bucktown Revue, Davenport (www.bucktownreview.com).