Keith Randall Jones

Keith Randall Jones, of Clarkston, Michigan, passed away on Friday December 1, 2023, at the age of 60, after a long battle with lung cancer.

He was born September 19, 1963, in Kalamazoo, the son of the late William Jones and Shirley (Terry) Jones, and brother of the late Angela (Jones) Wiseley.

Keith was a man who never met a stranger. Whether he was at a local bakery or a bar, Keith made new friends everywhere he went. He graduated from Western Michigan University with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Systems Engineering in 1986. Afterwards, he put his talents of communication and connection to use in his career as a sales manager at SMC Robotics, where he worked for nearly thirty years.

Keith had a passion for live music. He would attend concerts as much as five times a week; sometimes attending multiple shows in the same night. Some of his favorite artists were The Rolling Stones, Greta van Fleet, The Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Eagles, Aerosmith, Tom Petty, Halestorm and Shinedown.

When the weather was warm, Keith would join his friends and colleagues on the course for their annual golf league, the Classic League, of which he was an active member for over twenty-five years. For many of those years, Keith, or "Jonesy" as his friends called him, was the driving force which brought the league together.

Traveling was one of Keith's many joys. Some of his favorite places to visit were in the Caribbean. His girlfriend, Dee, knew that each morning on their travels, she could find him on the beach, where he would walk across the shore line and collect seashells. Keith also enjoyed reading on his travels, and would always bringing four or five books along, which he would read on the beach before watching the sunset each night.

Keith would often say his greatest joy in life was being a grandfather to his many grandchildren. Whether they called him Grandpa Jones or Sugarbug Jones, they knew that when Keith was visiting there would be lots of fun to be had. From teaching them how to stick out their tongues to building with magnets, from playing board games to roasting marshmallows, Keith was an energetic and playful grandpa who always brought a smile to his grandchildren's faces.

He was deeply loved and treasured by his family and friends, who would affectionately describe him as "a man larger than life".

He is survived by his loving partner, DeLynn Anderson; his children and their partners, Kei Jones, Wyatt and Aingeal Jones, Nicole Anderson and Ryan Strevel, Megan Anderson Brooks and Wes Brooks, Andrew and Danielle Anderson; and his grandchildren, Tera Jones, Elise Jones, Lloyd Jones, Matthew Anderson, Colin Roughton, Evie Brooks, and Ford Brooks.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Keith Jones Memorial Fund for Lung Cancer Research through the Lung Cancer Research Foundation.