• Date Of Birth: January 23, 1932
  • Date Of Death: September 9, 2015
  • State: Montana

Born January 23, 1932, in Edinburgh, Scotland to Harry and Annie Tait Keen, Harry grew up in Edinburgh, attending primary and secondary schools there. As a young child he had fond memories of playing hide and seek in Edinburgh castle. He remembered watching and hearing the B17 Flying Fortresses and Spitfires flying overhead on their way to Germany during World War II as he and his family evacuated the city. In 1949 he joined the British Army Catering Corp, serving in Great Britain, Aden, Germany and Cyprus. While in Cyprus he actually worked with the United Nations as a peacekeeper, finishing his service with a rank of Warrant Officer One.

Throughout Harry’s life, he was married three times. First was Jean Whitty of Lancashire in England in 1952; he married his second wife Ann Sharp in York, England; and finally, Nancy Engen became his third wife in 1995, being sealed in the Seattle Temple, and they remained together until her death in 2008. These three unions brought nine wonderful children into his life, blending the cultures of his three families.

Harry was a college lecturer in Perth, Scotland from 1973 to 1995. He was a master in culinary arts, baking, butchery and patisserie, which gave him the opportunity to cook for Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip, the Duke of Edinburgh. In 1995 he retired, moved to the United States and became an American citizen. He relocated to Great Falls, Montana where he immediately bought a black Ford F150, a black cowboy hat and boots, a gun, and shot his first deer that winter!

As a retiree, Harry took great pleasure in putting on presentations at elementary schools, churches and other public venues, lecturing on the history of Scotland while wearing his full Scottish regalia. Harry loved wintering in Arizona over the past twelve years, and made his final return to his homeland of Scotland last winter.

A man of many talents, Harry loved writing poetry, studying Scottish history, traveling with his family, hiking and camping, singing and playing the guitar, and attending musicals in London, Edinburgh and Seattle. He was a voracious reader, loving most of all, Wilbur Smith novels.

Harry is survived by his sons, Christopher Keen of Wales, Eric Engen of Montana, Harry Keen of Scotland; daughters, Alison Boyle of England, Lynda Booth of England, Julie Jonuska of Colorado Springs, CO, Allyson McPherson of Topeka, KS, Lynne Michaels of Scotland, and Alexa Keen of Scotland; sister, Anne Keen of Scotland; 18 grandchildren; 15 great-grandchildren; one great-great-grandchild.

Those who preceded him in death include his parents; his wife Nancy; brother, George Keen.

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