Lillian (Rogers) Keirstead

   
    EASTON – Lillian (Rogers) Keirstead, 104, went to be with the Lord, Wednesday, December 27, 2006 at The Aroostook Medical Center.   She was born in Fort Fairfield, August 25, 1902, the daughter of Faye and Cecilia (Lovely) Rogers.
    Lillian was educated at the one-room Haines School in Fort Fairfield, Fort Fairfield High School and Aroostook State Normal School (UMPI).  Upon graduation in 1923, she taught all eight grades in the one-room Chapman School in Limestone and later at the Palmer School in Caribou.  While she taught all subjects, she particularly enjoyed teaching history. After two years of teaching, she obtained advanced training at Castine State Normal School and, in addition to teaching in her own school, worked out of Caribou as a helping teacher to seven other one-room schools in the region. In 1929 she married Raymond M. Keirstead of Presque Isle. They moved to Easton where she became a substitute teacher. During WWII, while her husband served in the U.S. Army, she lived in eleven states. She was a member of the United Baptist Church in Easton where she taught Sunday School for many years.  She was past president of the Easton Senior Citizens Happy Days Club and past president of the Patti Page Post of the American Legion Auxiliary. In 1993 the Alumni Association of the University of Maine at Presque Isle presented her with the Distinguished Alumni Award.  In 2003, at age 100, she marched in UMPI’s commencement processional as the oldest living graduate of the institution.
    Lillian was predeceased by her husband Raymond and son Keith Rogers Keirstead and by her four siblings, Reynold, Ruth and Harold Rogers of Fort Fairfield and Margaret Culberson of Rising Sun, MD. She is survived by her daughter Jean Kneeland and husband Richard of Easton, daughter Carol Ann Keirstead of Greer, SC; grandson Keith Kneeland and wife Alice of Easton, granddaughter Cheryl Koenke and husband Scott of Greer, SC, granddaughter Barbara Blackstone and husband Douglas of Easton; seven great grandchildren, Ginger Nelson, Rene MacDougal, Jessica and Jeffrey Blackstone, and Dennae, Samuel and Richard Koenke; four great great grandchildren, Justice Kneeland, Otis and Kassandra Nelson and Jadynn Blackstone; and several nieces and nephews and their families.  
    Friends called at Duncan-Graves Funeral Home, 30 Church St., Presque Isle, Friday, December 29 from 7-9 p.m. Funeral service were conducted 2:00 PM Saturday at the funeral home with Pastors Larry Palmer and Lawrence Beals officiating. A spring interment will be in the Estes Park Cemetery in Easton.
    In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Foundation of the University at Presque Isle, designated to the Alumni Scholarship, 181 Main Street, Presque Isle, ME 04769.