November 10, 1940 ~ May 31, 2025

Raymond Keith Thorne “Keith” age 84 years passed away quietly in the morning, on Saturday May 31, 2025, at Capital Care Center at Norwood with his brother Richard, daughter Laurie and sister in-law Marcia with him after a long struggle with heart disease and cancer.

Keith was born on November 10, 1940 in Edmonton to Ernie and Ada Thorne. He lived his whole life in the Fort Saskatchewan area and mainly worked in various capacities at the plants but mostly as a pipefitter at Dow. He married Kathleen Birch “Kathy” at the age of 19 and they had just celebrated their 66^thwedding anniversary on May 29.

He is predeceased by his great granddaughter Mackenzie Beckley; parents Ernie and Ada Thorne; and siblings Ruth Thorne, Cecil Thorne, Ronnie (Darlene) Thorne, Clayton (Annabelle) Thorne and Margaret Rose (Richard) St. Laurent. He is survived by his brother Richard (Norma) Thorne.

Keith and Kathy had three children, Raymond (Brenda) Thorne, Laurie (Brian) Stone and Jeannie (Kent) Callaway. He was the proud grandpa to Michael (January) Thorne, Michelle (Johnny) Damberger, Justin (Tara Rae) Beckley, Ashley (Alex) Bath, Robert (Taylor) Stone, Richard (Carmen) Stone, and Keith Callaway; great grandpa to Mikayla and Marcus, Jayden and Jeanette, Cohen, Hayden and Jordyn, Jorja-Rae, Garrett, Hannah-Lee and Jackson; great great grandpa to Skylar.

Keith was interested in hockey and was involved with the referee association as well as the Fort Saskatchewan Jr. A Traders. Keith had many interests including watching hockey, curling, baseball and football, well just about every sport. He was a volunteer firefighter in the Fort for a number of years when he still lived in town. He was an avid hunter and fisherman involved with the Fort Saskatchewan Fish & Game. He volunteered at 4-H and pony club events and was very involved with the Endurance Riders of Alberta. He was a Judge for endurance riding with the Federation Equestrian International (FEI) organization. He volunteered with his son-in-law for both the men’s and women’s provincial curling play downs that were held in Wainwright. He especially loved his time that he spent with Kathy volunteering at the Fort Saskatchewan Food Bank. Keith also volunteered many hours with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in numerous different callings over the years.

Keith’s interest in horses started as soon as mom started riding endurance races. They loved the time they spent travelling and competing in long distance riding events. Keith and his horse DJ’s Delight travelled to Holland to compete in the World Equestrian Games, but his horse was pulled because the vet’s thought she was lame. He was the Canadian Chef de Equipe for a team that went to Dubai to compete in a 100 mile endurance race in the dessert. We used to tease that mom rode all her life, but dad became the “expert” when he started riding.

Celebration of Life

Tuesday, June 10, 2025
Public Viewing: at 12:15 pm
Service: at 1:00 pm
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
9901 – 93^rdStreet
Fort Saskatchewan

Interment
Following service at the Fort Saskatchewan Cemetery