March 9, 2021
Keller, Robert
It is with great sorrow that we announce that Robert Monteith Keller, 86 of Westwood MA, passed away peacefully after a brief illness on March 4, 2021. Bob, as he was known to family and friends, was born on April 6, 1934 in Annapolis, MD, the son of the late Beatrice Dunderdale (Stokes) and Capt. Walter Smith Keller. Bob was a devoted husband to his late wife of almost 60 years, Kate (Kitty) Van Winkle Keller, and a loving father to his daughters, Anne Keller Geraci and her husband Joseph St. Martin (Fairport, NY) and Margaret Keller Dimock and her husband Allyn Dimock (Concord, MA). He is also survived by two granddaughters, Elisabeth Leigh Geraci (Denver, CO) and Carolyn Marie Geraci (Burlington, VT). He is also survived by his brother James Parker Keller (Providence, RI), and foreign “brother”, Werner Vetter (Memmingan, Germany). He was predeceased by his brother Walter Smith Keller, Jr. A resident of Fox Hill Village in Westwood, MA and previously of Darnestown, MD and Coventry, CT, Bob had many interests including soccer, choral singing, bell-ringing, English country dancing, and helping others. He served his country as a nuclear engineer after attending the United States Naval Academy. Hand-picked by Admiral Rickover, he was a plank owner of the USS Enterprise, the first nuclear air-craft carrier commissioned by the US Navy. He continued his service in industry by developing an innovative simulator used to train operators of nuclear power-plants. He returned to Coventry, CT in 1970 with his wife and children to provide support to his parents at their homestead, Stokell Farm. He served as a town councilman in Coventry from 1971-1977. Bob moved to the Washington, DC area and continued to ensure public safety with a focus on licensing and training of nuclear reactor operators, first as part of the NRC and later DOE. Following his retirement in 1993, he provided counsel to Sen. John Glenn on key nuclear safety concerns. Bob and Kitty became interested in Early American Music and Dance during the bicentennial celebrations of 1976 and over the next few decades, they became specialists and renowned national experts on historical music and dance. In 1988, he developed an unique system of indexing country dance figures and has complied several major indexes of English and American Country Dances 1730-1810, and The Dancing Master CD-ROM and website. He participated om the development of The National Tune Index and managed the programming for The Performing Arts in Colonial American Newspapers. He is the principal author of the Early American an its European Sources. Together with David and Ginger Hildebrand, Bob and Kitty formed what would become the Colonial Music Institute, which promotes and encourages the understanding of early American history through music and dance. The importance of this work is reflected in the fact that it is now housed at George Washington’s Mt. Vernon. In 2004, Bob and Kitty moved to the Fox Hill Village community, where they shared their talents and energies through English Country Dance, bell-ringing, computer training, and choral singing. Bob was an enthusiastic chorister and he loved to sing the Hallelujah Chorus (Handel’s Messiah) and Verdi’s Requiem at the top of his lungs. Bob was devoted to Kitty and his entire family, and that was clear to everyone who knew them. A memorial service will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in Bob’s honor to the US Navel Academy Alumni Association and Foundation.