Dr. Alvin S. Keith

1922 - 2015

Dr. Alvin Keith, DPM, was born on November 14, 1922 in Atlanta, Georgia. His family moved to Evanston, Illinois where he attended Elementary, Middle, and High School. He excelled in basketball, and soccer. But his passion was track. He not only went on to set a track record which was held for 20 years, he also went on to become a State of Illinois champion. He was often referred to as "Kid Killer Keith" because of his boxing skills. Keith attended college at Xavier University in New Orleans for one year. Due to Jim Crow laws, he was thrown off the bus for refusing to sit in the back. He returned home and entered Loyola University in Chicago for 4 years as a pre-med student. This was during World War II, and the army approached all of the med students and asked them to enroll for 4 years in the Air Corps. Even though he scored the highest on the entrance test in the class, they only shipped out the white students. Soon after, he heard about the Tuskegee Airman forming the 477 Bombardment Squadron and after passing the test, he became a cadet. He trained on the B-25 and qualified for gunnery and he trained as a bombardier. In 1945 he married Ms. Juanita Short. To this union 4 children were bofrn to whom he was very proud of. They are, Gail, Alvin Jr., Kevin and Kathy. He has 11 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren. Keith was accepted at the Illinois College of Podiatry and graduated in 1949. Unfortunately, he did not have enough money to set up his practice so he worked several jobs until he was able to open his office in his basement and he slowly built up his practice. Later, he opened his own office. Keith has always had a very strong work ethic and he worked hard all his life. He has always fought for what he believed in, and most of all he has had a "zest" for life. When he lost his first wife, he remained single for a few years and met and married Mrs. Barbara B. Smith. He became the stepfather to Christie D. Means, Pharm-D and step grandfather to Logan and MacKenzie Means.. Dr. Alvin S. Keith (92) passed away on March 19, 2015 after a brief illness.