Peachie Keith, widow of the late Judge Quentin Keith, died peacefully in her sleep, on September 1, 2004.
Graveside services will be 4:00 p.m. Saturday, September 4, 2004 at Forest Lawn Cemetery, in Beaumont under the direction of Broussard’s, 2000 McFaddin, Beaumont. A communion service in her honor was held at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Cypress Mill. The family will receive visitors from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. on Friday evening, September 3, 2004 at the mortuary.
The mother of two children, grandmother of ten, and great grandmother of eighteen, Peachie was a founding member of Beaumont’s St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, where she was named the first woman to serve as Elder.
Born September 23, 1913 to E.W. and Bertha Wentworth McManus she was preceded in death by a sister, Louie Sypert, and two brothers, Edwin and Earl McManus. She graduated high school in Lake Charles, La., and attended Port Arthur Business College in the depths of the Great Depression. While employed as a bookkeeper at Inman Chevrolet Co in Port Arthur in 1932, she met and married Quentin Keith, then a law student at the University of Texas.
Peachie and Quentin made their home in Port Arthur from 1932 until 1946, and thereafter in Beaumont. She is survived by Janis and James P. Shoffner of Hilton Head Island, S.C.; Robert Q. and Frana Keith of Cypress Mill, Tx; grandchildren, John Shoffner, Charlotte, N.C., Jan Johnston, Lookout Mountain, Tn., Jill Egan, Atlanta, Ga., Kallie Keith, Maui, Hawaii, Hillery Keith, Houston, Tx, Amy Keith, Quentin Keith and Robert W. Keith, Cypress Mill, Tx, and Frana B. Sadler, Laguna Beach, Ca.and her dear friend and sister-in-law, Ida Mildred Keith Luquette of Wildwood, Tx.
She was also survived by nieces and nephews Susanne Walton and Keith Luquette, of Houston, and Edwina McManus Thomas, Eleanor McManus Johnson and Earl James McManus, and Kenneth Ray McManus all of the Lake Charles, La. Area. She enjoyed each of her eighteen great grandchildren.
Peachie’s great devotions were to her family, her church and her friends. She died in their embrace and the arms of her Lord.
Serving as pallbearers will be Martin Dies, Lum Hawthorn, Keith Luquette, Elvis Mason, Judge James W. Mehaffy, Bob Paddock, and Joe Stewart.
Honorary pallbearers will be her grandsons and grandsons-in-law: Jay Shoffner, John Shoffner, Tory Johnston, John Egan, Quentin Keith, Robert W. Keith, Steve Gardner, John Jameson, and Michael Sadler.
