Claud Leake Keirn Iii

1942 - 2021

Claud Leake Keirn III (Bud)

Mountain Home - October 29, 1942 - August 10, 2021

At 78 years of age, Bud Keirn departed peacefully from his home in Mountain Home, AR, to be with the Lord on August 10th, with daughters Raquel and Lesley Artyn, wife Christy, and sister Rebecca at his side.

On August 29, 1942, he was born to Claud Leake Keirn, Jr. and Margaret Campbell Keirn, both deceased, and raised in Greenwood, MS.

Bud graduated from Greenwood High School where he was the starting quarterback for the football team his senior year. However, Baseball was his favorite sport, in which he excelled from Little League through high school. As a first baseman, left-handed batter and left-handed pitcher, he was a walk-on for Clemson University's baseball team in 1963.

Of the 100 or so vying to make the team, Bud was one of just two to earn a spot, but having attended Ole Miss his freshman year, he was declared ineligible due to a restriction on transfer players. Nonetheless, he was always proud to have made a Division 1 baseball team. He returned to Ole Miss, joined the Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity, and graduated in 1965.

Bud then left Mississippi and married a Milwaukee, WS, beauty, Dolores Haig, the mother of Raquel and Lesley Artyn. He spent his adult life in Milwaukee, Cincinnati, OH, and Minneapolis, MN. He owned Network Medical Sales, and was a manufacturer's representative, selling medical supplies across the country.

In 1993, Bud married Christy Case from McComb, MS. Soon after, they moved back to their home state and lived in Oxford and McComb. They were married 28 years and were the loves of each other's lives.

Bud's hobbies were vast and varied! In 1966, He earned a private pilot's license and began a long aviation career. In his beloved Mooney M20E he flew for ten years, logging 2700 hours to 246 different cities, with 2080 take-offs and landings. He was passionate about flying, quick to remind loved ones on a gloomy day that "the sun is always shining above the clouds."

In December 1997, he crash-landed the Mooney at night near Statesville, North Carolina, a story he has recounted often, describing the Lord's presence with him that night after surviving a catastrophic engine failure. His next airplane was a J-model V-tail Bonanza, which he flew for two more years before retiring from aviation.

Always an adventure seeker, Bud loved motorcycles, once completing a 6,000-mile trip across 16 states in 16 days. He also loved boating on Lake Minnetonka in Minneapolis and the Tickfaw River in Louisiana.

After retiring from a medical sales career, he transformed a 100-year-old grocery store in McComb, MS into Buddy's, a popular bar & grill, specializing in Mississippi Delta Hot Tamales.

In 2007, Bud and Christy moved to Mountain Home, AR, where he dedicated himself to rescuing and caring for animals. His brother-in-law, Joe Seawright, teased that he ran the "Canine Soup Kitchen of the Ozarks," taking in every stray that ever crossed his path.

He was a member of First United Methodist Church of Mountain Home. He enjoyed writing, and created the blog "Falling Stars: Celebrity Aviation Disasters" <https://budkeirn.wordpress.com/> where he related his personal flying experiences to stories surrounding the air tragedies of Payne Stewart, Buddy Holly, John F. Kennedy Jr., and others.

Bud is survived by his wife, Christy Case Keirn, and his two daughters Lesley Artyn Keirn Nolan (Glen) and Raquel Keirn Diedrich (John). He is the grandfather of Lindsey Burke Tees, William Keirn Burke, Robert Claud Diedrich, and Daniel Diedrich. He has one great-granddaughter, Penelope Joy Tees.

His sisters, Margaret Lillian Spurgeon and Rebecca Keirn Seawright, live in Greenwood, MS. Nieces and nephews include Keirn Seawright Wilson - Lillie Belle and Jack Wade, Joseph Power Seawright Jr. (Courtney) - Annabel, Mary Sutton and Power III, Rebecca Durden Seawright Bishop (Matt) - Bo, Ann Wallace, Walter and Arrabella.

Visitation will be held from 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 4, at the family home, 218 East Harding in Greenwood. A private service to scatter ashes will be held at the Keirn family plot in Odd Fellows Cemetery in Lexington, MS. Memorials may be made to Arkansas State University-Mountain Home or the Twin Lakes, Community Foundation.