Earl Joseph Keating

Earl J. Keating Obituary

Earl Joseph Keating of Ingleside, IL died on 9-25-22 after a brief illness in Chandler, AZ at the age of 92. He was born in 1930 to Joseph and Clara Keating in Waukegan, IL. He is survived by 3 children: David, Lawrence and Kathleen, 6 grandchildren: Nicole, Adam, Julie, Sean, Jamie and Amy and 12 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his sister Vivian and brother-in-law Gordon Juhl as well as 2 ex-wives, Dorothy and Margaret.

Earl graduated from Lindblom High School in Chicago in 1947 at age 16, where he played on the tennis team and was editor-in-chief of the Lindblom Weekly. He graduated from the University of Illinois in 1951 with a degree in accounting. He then spent 2 years in the Army and served during the Korean war. After that he passed the exam to become a C.P.A. and worked for an international accounting firm in Chicago auditing large corporations for 6 years, then 6 more years with a smaller firm doing primarily income tax work. In 1965 he opened his own CPA practice in Fox Lake, IL doing auditing, accounting and income tax work for 38 years and retiring at age 73.

Active in civic affairs, Mr. Keating served as treasurer and then president of the Fox Lake Hills Property Owners Association; as a founder, treasurer and team manager of the Grant Township Area Little League for 15 years, as a founder, VP and president (twice) of the Fox Lake Rotary Club and as president of the Fox Lake Chamber of Commerce where he was a member for 38 years. He was also a member of the Fox Lake American Legion for 67 years.

Earl liked to see the world and went on many cruises over the years. He enjoyed tennis, swimming and scuba diving but where he really lit up a room was with his joy of swing dancing (the jitterbug in earlier years) and singing. He loved to sing karaoke and was known in many local venues in the Lake and Cook County areas to the point that Cheers-like cries of 'EARL!' were commonly heard when he arrived. He won a number of contests over the years and was even featured in a local venue's commercial, showing him onstage 'singing with the band', rocking out to Stray Cats' 'Rock This Town' in 2015.

Earl spent his entire adult life in the Fox Lake and Ingleside areas, just recently having moved out to Arizona last December to live with his daughter Kathi. Even in this last year he was often able to sing at Karaoke and had made a few new friends in the desert. He loved being able to stay in touch with the rest of the family via Facebook 'zoom-rooms' where he could still see their smiling faces and hear their laughing voices.

He was a truly unique and wonderful person who will be remembered forever with love and a smile by all who knew him. He was deeply loved by all of his children and grandchildren and will be greatly missed.

There are no services scheduled at this time. The family will convene in IL at a future date to put Earl to rest next to his beloved mother in the East Fox Lake cemetery.

To honor his memory... Sing. Sing a song to a loved one, sing a song to yourself, go out to Karaoke and dedicate a song to the memory of Earl and give it all you've got. He would love that.

To quote him, 'You only live once, but if you do it right once is enough!' May he rest in peace forever.