Keefe Samuel Meranto

KEEFE MERANTO, known as Keefer to close friends & Sonny Peckerino, to even closer friends; entered this world April 8, 1956 in Worcester, MA. He was 1 of 6 children born to Samuel & Maria Meranto. He passed on June 14, 2024, after a brief bout with cancer at his home on the beach in Anacortes.
Growing up in the city with too much time on his hands he was kicked out of every school for fighting. He went as far as the 7th grade. With no future in sight he left MA at 15 to live with family in Florida where, with some minor distortion of actual fact, he joined the local union. During that time he met his life partner & married at 19. They studied for his GED to enable him to enlist in the military. The discipline was good for his soul.
Eventually landing in Phoenix, AZ, he passed the state exam for his General Contractor's license. It was in 1986 that they formed their own company, S-O-S Restoration, Inc. which became very successful, allowing Keefer to retire in 2003 @ 47 years of age.They immediately left Arizona and moved to their home in Anacortes.
Keefer lived a full life, bull riding, bull fighting, guitar, martial arts, boxing, motorcycling & his real passion, fly-fishing which brought him to Italy, Slovenia, Argentina, Brazil, Russia, Alaska, Seychelles, the Amazon, N. Pole, Bahamas, Guatemala, Belize, Bolivia, New Zealand, Canada and beautiful parts of the USA. He loved where fish lived.
In the Fall of 2011 he found himself on the cover of Charles Schwab magazine, "Retirement His Way" and the rest is history.
He will be missed by many as Keefer never met a stranger, his challenge daily was to make everyone he met that day smile, either laughing with him or at his politically incorrect humor. He was and always will be, "one of the ole time greats."
Keefer is survived by his wife, Britt, Father, Sam Meranto, brothers Jeff & Jason, sister, April, nephews Anthony and Joseph and niece Alexis.
Keefer was a huge supporter of our military & first responders. If you are so moved, you may make a donation in his memory to Tunnels to Towers.
His Celebration of Life will be held at Evans Funeral Chapel in Anacortes on Thursday, July 11, 2024 from 5 pm – 7 pm. To share memories of Keefer please visit www.evanschapel.com/obituary/keefer-meranto.