Keith “Rhino” Jones passed away peacefully at home on August 31, 2015. He was born September 12, 1947 to Donald and Edith Jones in Coos Bay. However he spent most of his childhood in Jacoby Creek. He attended local schools, graduating from Arcata High in 1966. 

Keith loved cars! He did custom auto painting at his shop, Midway Body Sho,p where he painted his famous Easter Egg car. He then worked for Eureka Cycles and Accessories. In the ’70s Keith went to work for Yellow Cab/City Ambulance as their mechanic, but if there was a need he would hop in an ambulance and help. He continued on with the business as it expanded to include Six Rivers Towing, until he retired in the late 90s. In recent years his son Brad convinced him to come out of retirement to work with him and the crew at Redi Rents in Fortuna as their mechanic. He so loved working with his son. Keith was a true mechanic he could fix anything, it did not matter if he had the right part or not he made it work.

Keith and his family were part of the Redwood Empire Four Wheel Drive Club, which led to him and Eileen getting into 4x4 truck pulls, and he built the Grey Ghost that Eileen would drive and he would fix. They loved traveling all over California and Oregon with the truck pulls. Keith also built and raced a stock car when it was a dirt track at Redwood Acers #55J. Later he was the tow truck out at the races. He loved being out there.

Keith was also very involved with the community serving as an adviser for BLM and the off-road vehicle parks out at Samoa Beach. He regularly met with members of the city council to share his thoughts and ideas and many times they called him for advice.

Keith was a member of the Eureka Moose and helped with Bingo there. On the third Sunday of every month you could find him serving Swedish pancakes at the Runeberg Hall. Keith enjoyed being a greeter at Faith Center Church. His favorite pastime was playing bingo. He even dressed up as the Bingo Fairy for Halloween.

Keith loved to tinker in his garage. He would stay out there for hours building and fixing things. He loved to talk with neighbors as they passed by. Keith loved to go camping, even camping he would putter around and find something to fix. He loved taking his grandchildren on adventures, camping, Disneyland, Great America or even just back in his garage building a birdhouse.

Keith would do anything for anybody. Dad and mom taught us how to be good people through their actions. He never left someone without a place to be, helping many people with housing, giving them a place to stay if needed. If you needed a hug he had one. If you needed your car repaired he would fix it. We had an exchange student, Ann for a year and we loved having her. He played Santa at many local events and was the perfect jolly St Nick. He loved putting the tow truck in the Trucker Parade each year. Over the last few days it was so touching to have several people call and tell me that our Dad was their Hero! He was just an amazing man who was cared for all. His biggest joy in the last few years was his grandchildren. He just adored them and loved spending time with them teaching them how to fix things and making memories. He was so very proud of them all!!!! His last wish was to make it to Alex’s first high school football game last Friday night which he did and he was so proud to be there!

Keith was preceded in death by his parents and father-in-law Welford Hicks. He is survived by his wife of nearly 44 years, Eileen; his son Bradley Jones; his daughter Dessie and his son-in-law Ryan Baxter; his grandchildren, whom he adored: Alex, Arika and Arin Baxter; his mother-in-law Naoma Hicks; his sisters, Jeanette Jones, Charley Beardslee, Jeanine Cain; his brother, Bruce Jones; his aunts Ethyl Doty and Charlotte Creech and his Uncle Dick Jones. Keith cared for and will be missed by his brothers-in-law Doug Hicks (Denise), David Hick (Jackie), Dan Hicks (Cindy), sisters-in-law Marge Hill and Karen Shaddix (Greg). He is also survived by many nieces and nephews and many good friends, including Brian Bishop, Tom and Linda Sellars and Angelina Ball and family.

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The obituary above was submitted by Keith Jones’ family. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here. Email news@lostcoastoutpost.com.