Michael Roy Keating

West Point, 1957

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Judy Keating on June 30, 2021:

KEATING, Michael R., Col. USAF (Ret.) of Montgomery died March 1, 2021. He was diagnosed with Parkinson's in February 2015 and aggressively fought it until his death. Mike was born in Omaha, NE on November 24, 1934 and grew up as an Army Brat as his father was a career Army officer. Following graduation from West Point in 1957, Mike was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force. Following pilot training, he flew B-47 bombers in the Strategic Air Command. He received a Masters Degree in Aerospace Engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology and was an assistant professor at the Air Force Academy. He was a decorated veteran of Vietnam where he flew the U-10 (STOL) aircraft with the 14th Special Operations Wing. Following graduation from the Air War College, he served as Chief, Advanced Development Division, Air Force Materials Laboratory. A tour with the Defense Intelligence Agency took him to Sweden where he served as the Defense and Air AttachAA(c) in the United States Embassy in Stockholm. He retired here in Montgomery following a second tour on the faculty of the Air War College as a Department Head and later as Associate Dean of Faculty. During his life he was very active in a variety of activities including Children Have a Potential, National Ski Patrol System, National Federation of Sports Officials, among others. In 2000 Mike and Judy coauthored a book, The Hand of God, an inspiring true story of their son's survival and recovery after accidentally contacting 16,000 volts of electricity. The Keating family was a 2003 selection by the Family Guidance Center as one of their Families of the Year. Mike was preceded in death by his parents John and Beatrice Keating, his brother, Patrick Keating and his daughter, Joanne Keating. He is survived by his loving wife of 60 years, Judy Keating, their son John Keating (Melynda), and three grandsons, John Lane Keating, Jr., Michael Asa Keating, and Kris Gabriel Keating. The Honorary pallbearers are the Members of the Central Alabama Football Officials Association. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Parkinson's research or your favorite charity. Mike will be interred at the Alabama National Cemetery in Montevallo. Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Others stay for awhile and touch our hearts so deeply that we are never the same - Mike was such a person.

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