Christina (Tina) Keker

Tina Keker died on January 11, 2021, peacefully, at home with her husband and sons. The cause was metastatic lung cancer. She was an accomplished artist, and a wonderful loving wife, mother and grandmother. Tina was born October 16, 1943 in Toledo, Ohio, the first of four siblings. Her parents moved the family frequently when she was young, from Washington DC to Bloomfield Hills, MI to Ft. Lauderdale and finally back to suburban Maryland. She graduated from Bethesda Chevy Chase High School where in addition to being an honor student, cheerleader, and student government representative, she formed a bond that lasted 60 years when she and John Keker started dating senior year. One of their early dates was sitting in freezing cold bleachers watching John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Parade. They went to different colleges, but they never separated, running up enormous long-distance phone bills, writing daily, and visiting each other. Tina graduated from the University of Maryland with a BA in Sociology. After college, she worked in Human Resources for the US Dept of Commerce. She and John married September 11, 1965, while John was training in Quantico, VA to be a Marine Corps infantry platoon leader.

John was seriously wounded in Vietnam in late July 1966, and later evacuated to Bethesda Naval Hospital. Tina’s reunion with him there was interrupted by the Spanish American war veteran in the next bed who complained they were making too much noise.

From then on Tina’s life was mostly joyous. When John was released from the hospital, they took a fabulous three-month trip, on $10 a day, all over Europe. Tina came home pregnant. Then they were off to New Haven, where John attended law school. Adam Keker was born in March 1968, a momentous year in every regard. After law school they lived one year on Capitol Hill in Washington DC. While there Tina took art classes at the Corcoran Museum of Art. In 1971 they fulfilled the pledge made to each other years before: they would live and raise their family in San Francisco, a place both could pursue careers and interests.

They moved to San Francisco in July 1971, settling in North Beach. The family was growing. Adam was 3, and Nathan was on the way, born in San Francisco in December 1971. Tina was only 28.

Life was a happy whirl of young children, lots of friends, lots of work and fun vacations. When the boys were both in preschool Tina enrolled in the Academy of Art, studying graphic design. She went on to work as a graphic designer for 25 years, eventually forming a partnership with her close friend, Bobby Patri. Patri Keker Design was highly successful, and Tina created logos and print materials for businesses all over the City. She loved the tools of the craft in those days, the world of Letraset type and X-acto knives and technical pens and drafting desks. When the field of graphic design started to go digital, she dutifully learned all the right computer programs, but she always missed the tactile parts of the job and felt that some of the fun had been lost for her. Tina retired her practice and transitioned to fine art. She became a printmaker, taking studio classes at Fort Mason where she could use the City College presses, and where she enjoyed the community of artists. She was glad to be making art with her hands again, and over the next two decades she designed a huge collection of elegant monoprints. Tina was kind and welcoming and always set people at ease, and she was adored by all the kids her sons grew up with. She couldn’t walk down the street in North Beach without running into someone she knew. Throughout her life, Tina served the larger community, as a long-time board member of Telegraph Hill Neighborhood Association and of Zeum, the Children’s Creativity Museum. She supported organizations that served children and the homeless, especially veterans. When the family moved from North Beach to Russian Hill, Tina helped create the Greenwich Garden Path, and served on the committee to keep the garden thriving for 30 years. She also spent considerable time helping John with his growing law firm, designing the graphics, throwing parties for the employees, and attending recruiting dinners with prospective new lawyers.

Tina loved to travel, and she and John explored dozens of countries together on every continent but Antarctica. In 1990, they bought land high above the Dry Creek Valley outside Healdsburg, with magnificent views, and built a house there which she filled with art and family holidays.

Their life stayed good and lucky. Both sons married terrific women who Tina loved. And those daughters-in-law, Amanda Pike and Nora Keker, gave Tina the blessing of grandchildren who she adored. Those grandchildren lifted Tina’s spirits with many visits this year and were with her the day before she died.

Tina’s and John’s good luck ran out exactly one year before she died, when she visited her internist with a bad cough and was diagnosed with Stage 4 metastatic lung cancer. Cancer, combined with Covid lockdown, summer fires that threatened the Healdsburg house but worse made the air smoky and even harder for her to breathe, and the Presidential election and its aftermath made for a very tough last year, but she was blessed with lots of time with her family.

Tina is survived by her husband John, her sons, Adam and Nathan, their wives Amanda Pike and Nora Keker, her grandchildren Eva, Duncan, Ella, Owen and Alaia Keker, her sister Susan Drescher and many nieces and nephews. The Family will have a celebration of Tina’s life and art this summer. The Family thanks Tina’s beloved friend Julieta Ana Trejo for her special devotion and caring in Tina’s last days.

In lieu of flowers, please donate in Tina’s memory to Swords to Plowshares, 1060 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94103, which she long supported for its work with homeless and distressed veterans, or Telegraph Hill Neighborhood Center, 660 Lombard Street, San Francisco, CA 94133.