Frank Phillip Keil was born to William and Louisa Herrnleben Keil on August 9, 1887, the sixth of 12 children, six boys and six girls. He and Laura Alvina Geminden were married on December 14, 1911 at Jamestown, Missouri. They had three daughters, Evelyn Abigail, Dorothy Naomi and Pauline Mae. They lived on the old Keil family farm of 160 acres in Cedron - just outside of California - in Moniteau County, Missouri. Frank never enjoyed farming and with three daughters and no sons it was necessary to hire help. In 1933 he decided to sell the farm and join his brothers who were already living in Tacoma, Washington. With another brother Louis, also a farmer, the two families moved west. Eventually five of the six brothers who survived into adulthood - one brother died at seven years of age - and one of the six sisters settled in South Tacoma. Two other sisters moved to Montana and lived their entire lives there. Of the 12 Keil siblings in this generation, only three Keil sisters remained in Missouri.

Frank worked hard to create a new life and support his family. He and a brother owned a used furniture store for awhile. He was working with a construction company as a contractor for the city of Tacoma when he was killed in an industrial accident in 1937 on South I Street, close to Saint Joseph Hospital. He went down into a manhole to work or inspect and died of poisonous gas that had settled there. He was found sitting down leaning against the wall as though he had just fallen asleep. He was 49 years old.

His widow Laura did not remarry and lived in the same house on South Fife Street, until her death of natural causes in 1958. Evelyn married Norman D. Anderson in 1938 and lived just a few doors from her mother on South Fife Street. She died in 1964. Dorothy married Walter E. Keil in 1940. Walter owned and operated the Keil's Grocery, also on South Fife, until his death in 1953. In 1957 Dorothy married Aldo J. Vettori. Dorothy died in 2004. Pauline married Armereo W. Jones in 1946. At about that time she started her own public accounting firm that she owned and operated until well into her 70's. Armereo died in 1968. Pauline married Peter C. Miller in 1976. Peter died in 1998. Pauline lived the longest of all, dying in 2012 at the age of 91.

~ by Pauline M. Keil Jones Miller with edits and additions by her niece, Dorothy and Walter's daughter, Kathie