Maurice Dimmitt Keller

Maurice Dimmitt Keller was born to William Dimmitt Keller and Minnie Ruth Richards Keller on March 1, 1920 on a farm 10 miles west of Tombaugh, Missouri. His father, a University of Missouri graduate, worked the family farm, raising milk cows, chickens, pigs, horses and mules. The family eventually moved to Fulton, MO, where Maurice attended junior high and high school. While in high school, he dated and later married Maree Jo Farquhar. Maurice attended the University of Missouri, and at that time, like all male students, he was required to perform two years of basic military and physical education training. But he loved the military and was a 4-year member of the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC). Upon graduation in 1943, he entered the U.S. Army as a Second Lieutenant at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He later joined the 14th Armored Division, 500th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, which landed at Marseille in southern France in October, 1944. Maurice was assigned as a forward air observer, flying as many as 100 missions along the Alsace-Lorraine front in a Piper L-4 Cub plane. During the final weeks before V-E Day, the men of the 14th Armored Division liberated 200, 000 Allied personnel from German captivity, including more than 30, 000 Americans. To this day, the 14th Armored Division is known as the "Liberators." Maurice was awarded numerous medals, ribbons, and citations, including the Bronze Star and the Air Medal. Maurice was also a member of the San Pedro Elks and the U.S. Military Officers of America Association (MOAA). He served in the U.S. Army Reserve from 1947-1964, retiring as a Lt. Colonel. Thrilled to have survived the war, Maurice and Maree Jo followed war buddies and family members to Los Angeles, where he joined and later purchased Western Pen Company. In 1981, he married his second wife, Hildegard Andriacchi, who died in 1987. Maurice remarried in 1990, and is survived by his wife, Barbara Hanlon Keller, who resides in Rancho Palos Verdes. Maurice was the father of four children by Maree Jo Keller: Mary Keller of Austin, TX; John Keller of Austin, TX; Bill Keller of Lancaster; and Martin Keller, who died in 1995. He is also survived by three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. He was also the step-father to Robert Andriacchi of Cypress; John Andriacchi of Hawthorne; and Frank Andriacchi, of Redondo Beach, who died in 2011. The funeral service will be held at Green Hills Memorial Chapel on Tuesday, May 12th at 1pm.

Funeral Home:
Green Hills Mortuary and Memorial Chapel
27501 S.Western Ave.
Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
US 90275