Kenneth Michael "Mike" Keeton

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Kenneth Michael “Mike” Keeton, 65, a resident of Columbia, died Tuesday, February 10, 2026 at his residence.

Funeral services will be conducted Friday, February 13, 2026 at 10:00 AM at Oakes & Nichols Funeral Home with Adam Southern, Kendall Keeton, and Alice Bennett officiating. Burial will follow in Rose Hill Cemetery. The family will visit with friends Thursday from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM at Oakes & Nichols Funeral Home.

Mike was born on February 2, 1961 in Lawrence County, Tennessee to the late Earl Kenneth Keeton and the late Joyce Nell Head Keeton. He was a 1979 graduate of Summertown High School, where he was a stand-out player on both the basketball and baseball teams. He scored over 1,000 points during his high school basketball career and was the last inductee into the Summertown Eagles Basketball Hall of Fame.

Mike was a machinist with CSX Transportation for forty-two years. His four decades of travels in the employment of the railroad produced many great stories which he entertained his family with over the years. Before his retirement, his coworkers referred to him as “Pops,” as he often acted as a “work father” for the younger men on the railroad.

This was fitting, as in his personal life he was loving family man. He is remembered as a loving husband, father, and, most recently, grandfather. He was also an avid hunter and fisherman. Mike was long a fixture of the Williamsport Lakes, where he loved to fish for crappie. It was also at the lakes that he landed a ten-pound bass which he proudly had mounted to his wall.

Mike’s love of baseball continued into adulthood. This love he passed to his children. Mike traveled the Southeastern Conference watching his son play baseball at the collegiate level as a Mizzou Tiger. Mike was also a volunteer at Rose Hill Cemetery of which his daughter is Association President. He spent countless days freeing Rose Hill from felled trees and limbs.

Survivors include his wife Pam Rankin Keeton whom he married on June 4, 1988; daughter and son-in-law, Kayla and Adam Southern of Culleoka; son and daughter-in-law, Kendall and Whitney Keeton of Culleoka; two grandchildren that were the joy of his life, Sawyer and Walker Keeton; sister and brother-in-law, Lisa Keeton Bradburn and Donald Bradburn of Summertown; two sisters- in-law and brothers-in-law, Cindy and Ken Mosley, and Lisa and Steve Morton; and several nieces and nephews.

Pallbearers will be Brent Clifton, Chad Clifton, Alex Mosley, Alan Mosley, Stephen Morton, and Adam Howell. Honorary pallbearers will be his CSX Transportation coworkers. The family would like to extend their thanks to long-time neighbors, Sue Yant, Charlie and Judy Davis, Joe and Ellen Osterfeld, and especially Zachary Osterfeld.

Memorials may be made to Rose Hill Cemetery, P.O. Box 1511 Columbia, TN 38402. Online condolences may be extended at www.oakesandnichols.com.