Judith Ellen Faulkner Keeling

Sept. 27, 1932-April 17, 2022

Judith Ellen Faulkner Keeling, 89, passed away peacefully in her sleep on Easter morning, April 17, 2022.

Daughter of Ruth Irene Timmons Faulkner and Sidney Royse Faulkner, Judy was born in Waynetown on Sept. 27, 1932. She graduated as valedictorian from Waynetown High School where she met Richard “Doc” Paire Keeling. After graduating in 1950, she was awarded a scholarship to attend Indiana University. Her education was interrupted when Doc was drafted into the Korean War. She soon followed him to Camp Pendleton, where he was stationed and serving in the Marine Corps. They wed in Long Beach, California on March 22, 1952, before he was sent overseas.

After the war, they moved back to Indiana, where they had two children, Joanne (Jody) and Karl (Andy). Judy supported Doc so that he could continue his education. After obtaining a PhD, they moved to Emporia, Kansas, where Doc became a professor. After her children left the nest, she resumed her education and obtained a bachelor’s degree in nursing in 1984.

She continued to support her husband in all his endeavors. This included his education, his woodworking and crafting of furniture, his role at the American Legion, his bubble machine, robot, and other various contraptions which were a centerpiece of many a parade in Emporia, as well as, his etching and pen and ink work. Judy was an excellent artist herself — painting dozens and dozens of landscapes in oil. Her work hangs on the walls of family and friends, and organizations around Emporia.

During this time, she also instilled in her kids a love for science and nature. After a small flood in Emporia, she condoned Jody’s rehoming of a crawdad she found in the front yard. They soon discovered eggs under the crawdad’s tail. Upon this sight, Judy sat out a pan filled with pondwater in the kitchen so that her children could watch the eggs hatch. She also allowed Jody to foster baby rabbits, anoles, a mouse, and a box of snakes in the garage. In doing this, she gifted her children with an appreciation of the natural world.

Judy also volunteered for decades at the American Legion, baking hundreds of pies for the bingo players. She was also active as an Emporia State faculty wife, a girl scout leader, and later a volunteer for a Parkinson’s support group.

Judy was preceded in death by her husband, Doc Keeling.

She is survived by her son Andy Keeling of Emporia; daughter Jody and husband Tim Gross of Piedmont, Oklahoma; grandson Harlan Gross of Tulsa, Oklahoma; granddaughter Kelly Gross of Edmond, Oklahoma; brother Sidney Faulkner of Kokomo; and sister Emily Poor of Greencastle.

Funeral services will be 2 p.m. Thursday, April 21 at Roberts-Blue-Barnett Funeral Home in Emporia, Kansas. Chaplain Leslie Hedges of the Ball-McColm Post #5, American Legion in Emporia will be officiating. Interment will be in the Evergreen Cemetery south of Emporia.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Hetlinger Development Center and sent in care of Roberts-Blue-Barnett Funeral Home.

Online condolences may be made through www.robertsblue.com.