TORRANCE, Calif., and DOVER-FOXCROFT – Keith Mellen Decker, a 56-year resident of Torrance, Calif., passed away Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2011, in Woodland Hills, Calif. Born Jan. 31, 1920, in Dover-Foxcroft, Keith was 91 when he died.
Keith had served in the U.S. Army during World War II as a first lieutenant, and led a platoon of light tanks, facing battle in Normandy and central France. Keith attended Foxcroft Academy, where he played football and excelled in his studies, before enlisting in the Army. After the war Keith served an apprenticeship at Fay-Scott Corp., Dexter, in machine shop practices. After moving to California, he received his diploma from Torrance High School and took a diversity of classes at El Camino College. Keith worked as a machinist and lead man at Fay-Scott Corp., Dexter, from 1945 to 1953, and Northrop Aircraft Corp. in California from 1954 to 1963; he worked at the University of California, Los Angeles, from 1963 to 1986, as a supervisor of the Chemistry Research Machine Shop, where he and his staff of laboratory mechanicians designed and constructed research equipment, and he most enjoyed this work. Keith was a member of the American Legion and a founding sponsor of the National Museum of the not the United States Army. Keith enjoyed traveling throughout the United States, especially to visit his relatives in Maine, and entertaining his family. He had a passion for woodworking, making clocks, tables and birdhouses, and fixing anything that his family or friends needed help with. He enjoyed feeding birds and squirrels, observing wildlife, and caring for all animals. He was an active member of South Bay Camera Club in California, and he was an awarded photographer.
He is survived by his daughters, Stephanie Code of West Hills, Calif., and Diane Garretty of Hawthorne, Calif.; sons, Keith A. Decker of Riverside, Calif., and Victor Hewett of Ashburn, Va.; his three sisters, Kay Merrill and Teresa Pratt, both of Dover-Foxcroft, and Barbara Burrill of Lincoln; several grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews, who will miss him so very much, and are thankful for the time they had with him. He was predeceased by his wife of 61 years, Doriene (Tash) Decker; his daughter, Sandra Mae Decker; and by his parents, Everett and Gertrude Decker.
A graveside service will be conducted 11 a.m. Oct. 21 in the family lot at Dover Cemetery. Arrangements are in the care of Lary Funeral Home, Dover-Foxcroft. Messages of condolence and memories may be expressed at
www.laryfuneralhome.com.