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Elderly Woman Killed Crossing U.S. 19

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Kyle Martin

Published: February 6, 2008

SPRING HILL - SPRING HILL - Maureen Keel was a people person.

It showed in her career, which ranged from tending to the dying in hospices to counseling addicts and the mentally ill.

Her sociable nature was the reason she relished trips to amusement parks where she could immerse herself in a crowd.

But no matter the number of people Mrs. Keel daily came in contact with, she reserved her greatest affection for the six special individuals who shared her home.

"We had such a love for each other," her husband, Robert, said on Wednesday.

The couple, who had five children together, would have celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary this September.

But life had different plans.

On Monday night, Mrs. Keel, 69, stepped outside to chat with a neighbor behind their home on Plumosa Street, not far from the Target on U.S. 19.

About that time, Keel got a call from his son in Georgia and the two spent 30 minutes on the phone.

Then the phone rang again. It was another neighbor calling to say he had seen Mrs. Keel near the Perkins restaurant on U.S. 19.

Her husband was confused. Mrs. Keel had been suffering from Alzheimer's for several years, but she hadn't wandered off like this before.

Keel climbed into his car to find his wife and spent 30 minutes searching the parking lot of the Lakewood Plaza, including the Target, Publix and outlying restaurants.

She was gone.

Then he saw a sheriff's deputy and Keel, 76, informed him of his missing wife. The deputy asked for a description of his wife and told him that a woman had just been killed crossing the highway about a mile away.

The deputy asked Keel not to visit the scene because of the severity of his wife's injuries.

According to the Florida Highway Patrol, Mrs. Keel was crossing the northbound lanes of U.S. 19, near Outback Steakhouse, when she was hit by an oncoming Jeep. The impact knocked her into the outside lanes where she was struck by two other vehicles.

Within an hour, troopers and the medical examiner were on Keel's doorstep with his wife's rings and their condolences.

On Wednesday, the new widower was struggling to understand why his wife would leave and how she got so far.

Until he finds an explanation, Keel relies on memories to see him through. He recalled the day he first laid eyes on his future wife. It was a blind date at a bowling alley in their native Pennsylvania.

A previous date arranged by his matchmaker was a disaster, and Keel had his doubts whether this one would be any better. However, when he met 18-year-old Maureen, his jaw dropped.

"Boy, oh boy, I fell in love with her right there," Keel said.

What was sparked that night led to a lifetime of devotion to each other and their five children. They were separated for years at a time as Keel and his wife swapped turns living in Pennsylvania to care for their daughter as she fought a losing battle against breast cancer.

Then Mrs. Keel's health began to falter, beginning with bouts of pneumonia and later open heart surgery. Doctors later determined she was not receiving enough oxygen to her brain and diagnosed her with Alzheimer's.

Her short-term memory all but disappeared. Mrs. Keel would forget she had eaten breakfast or get lost in the aisles of a grocery store. The experience taught Keel to check his fiery temper and be patient with his ailing wife.

Their life was altered, but the love they shared remained the same.

"She was the best thing to ever happen to me," Keel said.

Mrs. Keel is survived by her husband, children, six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Her body will be cremated, but services were incomplete at press time.

Reporter Kyle Martin can be reached at 352-544-5271 or kmartin@hernandotoday.com.

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