- Date Of Birth: December 6, 1935
- Date Of Death: June 30, 2017
- State: Maryland
David John O’Keefe, 81, of Preston, died at his home on June 30 surrounded by loved ones. Born December 6, 1935 in Staten Island, NY, he was the son of the late John Hamilton O’Keefe and Rose Hales O’Keefe.
Dave had a wide-range of interests including being with family, deep-sea fishing, being outdoors and on the water, going fast, and things that “go boom.” In his youth, Dave ran stock cars on the Daytona Beach Race Course before the International Speedway was built. He was an award-winning trap shooter and a trophy bowler. He enjoyed being a Flotilla Commander of the Kent Island Coast Guard Auxiliary. Some may remember Dave as a member of AA, where he led meetings at the Presbyterian Church in Easton. Dave and his beloved wife, Fran, spent much of their retirement in their RV driving across the country and through Mexico. They took many trips with their grandchildren and more recently wintered in Florida.
During Dave’s long career as a mechanic, welder, and tools and parts fabricator, he created parts for the first NASA Lunar Module still on the moon today. Dave worked as a Shop Foreman at Standard Fusee in Easton, MD where many of the innovations he engineered for their pneumatic assembly system were patented. Throughout his life, Dave loved using his mechanical skills to fix and modify cars and boats.
Dave is survived by his wife, Frances Bender O’Keefe, son, Robert O’Keefe and wife Anna, daughter, Julia Davis and husband George (Buck), youngest son, John O’Keefe and wife Ginger (Gigi), and their children, John and Cortney. He is also survived by his step-children, Robert Lake, Kathleen Campbell and husband Keith, Linda Gibbs, Lisa Rogers and husband Mike, grandchildren, Nicole, Christen, Ryan, Courtney, Michael, Shannon, Jessica, and Zachary, and six great-grandchildren.
