Farewell to the Independent’s founding editor

Jennifer K Mahal

Donald Keller, the founding editor of the Huntington Beach Independent,

died March 19 after a brief illness. He was 70.

Keller started the Independent in 1964 for Ridder Newspapers, which later

became Knight-Ridder. He left it in 1967 to start the Action Line column

for the now-defunct Orange County Evening News, another Ridder paper.

Action Line was a consumer help column.

“Everything he did, he attacked with irrepressible enthusiasm,” said Ross

Tamblyn, a close friend who worked with Keller at the Evening News, the

Contra Costa Times and the San Jose Mercury News. “Gusto. G-U-S-T-O.

Gusto.”

Born in the Bronx, N.Y., Keller moved to Glendale in the late 1940s. He

graduated from Glendale Union High School and attended Woodbury College

in Los Angeles, earning a bachelor’s degree. A journalist from the start,

he worked on both his college and high school newspapers.

A veteran of the Army National Guard, he enlisted in 1948. He was

discharged two years later but was recalled to serve during the Korean

War as a company clerk.

His first professional credit came with the Fullerton News Tribune, where

he worked as a reporter and photographer. His last professional credit

came as a part-time editor with McCormack Guides, a Northern California

company that produces relocation guides. In between, Keller worked for

the Contra Costa Times and the San Jose Mercury News, among others. He

retired from the Mercury News in 1989.

At the time of his death, Keller lived in Benicia, 30 miles northeast of

San Francisco.

Bob Barker, who wrote for the Independent in the ‘90s, remembers Keller

from his days at the Evening News. They met in 1957.

“He was a good guy and a good newspaperman,” Barker said, adding that

Keller liked to do things the old-fashioned way.

A few years ago, Barker visited Keller in Benicia. While at a restaurant

together, Barker noticed the waitress was laughing hard. Looking around

to find the source of amusement, he found Keller wiggling his ears.

“The most fun I ever had was when Don and I went target shooting,”

Tamblyn said. “Every time, it was like we were boys again, time just went

so fast. We enjoyed each other so much.”

Keller was a life member of the National Rifle Assn. He taught firearm

safety for the Benicia Parks and Community Services Department. For more

than 10 years during the summer, he was also the range master at Camp

Dudley, a YMCA camp in upper New York state, where he taught gun safety

and marksmanship.

“Every time he talked about that, he got tears in his eyes,” Tamblyn

said.

Keller had to give up his duties at the camp about three years ago

because of problems with his knees, Tamblyn said.

Like many, Keller was liberal as a youth and conservative as an older

man.

In the early ‘60s, Keller and his wife, Jo Ann, helped the National Assn.

for the Advancement of Colored People conduct surveys on fair housing,

Tamblyn said. A black couple would apply to rent an apartment and be

turned down. Then the Kellers would apply, he said. They would be

accepted, leading to a report to the housing agency.

“They did this frequently to help enforce fair housing laws,” Tamblyn

said. “He was very proud of that.”

Keller had just completed his fourth book, a biography of blind concert

pianist Stu Hemingway titled “I See What You Mean.” He was working on his

fifth book, a memoir of his life as a newspaperman in the ‘50s, when he

died.

“He was a dynamic guy,” said Don McCormack, who worked with Keller at

McCormack Guides until his death. “He had a tremendous amount of energy.

Could not sit still for 10 minutes.”

For 10 years, Keller volunteered at Kaiser Medical Center in Vallejo. He

also was the former president of the Southampton Swim Club in Vallejo.

Keller is survived by his wife of 47 years, Jo Ann; two daughters, Linda

Keller-Palma of Virginia and Polly Keller of Texas; two grandsons, Rico

Keller-Palma and Trent Keller-Palma; a brother-in-law, George Brundage of

San Diego; and a son-in-law, Fred Palma of Virginia.