Keith William Blais

Keith William Blais, 59, of Olathe, Kansas, passed away on Friday, October 29, 2021, while at Tablerock Lake. He was born on September 28, 1962 in Newport, Vermont to Robert and Patricia (O'Brien) Blais, where he joined older brother Shawn. The Blais family continued to grow with the addition of Tim and then Regina.

Keith attended school in Newport and went to North Country Union High School, where he played ice hockey, baseball and soccer. He graduated high school in 1980, and then went on to study engineering at Vermont Technical College in Randolph, Vermont, graduating in 1982.

Following college graduation Keith moved to Odessa, Texas to work in the oil fields, relocating to Dallas in 1985 for a management position with Ticketmaster in the technology department. In 1986 while at Ticketmaster, Keith met co-worker Jennifer Cooper, and they then married in Dallas in April of 1991.

Keith and Jen welcomed their first child, Austin in 1994, followed by Matthew in 1995. In 1996 the family moved to Olathe, Kansas when Keith took an engineering position with Sprint (now T-Mobile), where he worked until his death. In 1997 Keith and Jen welcomed their daughter Emily.

Keith had two passions in life . . . his family and fishing. Keith coached his boys in baseball and football as they were growing up and he developed a love for watching Emily on the volleyball court and soccer field. The family loved spending time together and enjoyed snow skiing, fishing, boating, river canoe trips, and playing LOTS of card games.

It was rare for a family gathering to take place without some cards being thrown. He was always excited to teach someone a new game, along with "most" of his strategies to win! Not to mention, show them some of his card tricks. Whether it was "31", pinochle, pitch, cribbage or euchre, Keith could always strategize his next move quicker than anyone else.

If you knew Keith well, you knew you'd find him on a lake fishing for large or small-mouth bass if he wasn't at a kids' activity or event. He loved being in his bass boat whether it be by himself or with a good buddy or a family member. In 2006 Keith's dream of owning a lake home came true when he and Jen purchased a house at Tablerock Lake. Numerous friends and family have enjoyed long weekends at Tablerock fishing, swimming and staying up way too late with "Late Night Keith".

Over the years, Austin, Matt and Emily each brought groups of friends to the lake house for the weekend, and often Keith was the only adult there and served as the boat driver and weekend chaperone. Those trips always ended with the Blais kids' friends falling in love with Mr. Blais!

Keith was competitive. Whether it was hunting, golf, fishing or card games, he played to win. After Austin won the inaugural Tablerock Ozark Angler bass tournament in 2018, Keith brought home the winner's trophy the next two years in 2019 and 2020. Keith's good friend Jay Knorr won year 4 of the tournament in 2021. It's well known around the lake that to win that tournament you've got to be a Blais or know them well!

Keith was also a music lover and self-taught on the guitar. He loved to strum along to classic rock like Neil Young and John Prine. He spent many nights on the deck at the lake house with friends listening to music.

Keith was a quick study and had the knack to build and fix things. He routinely would be found tinkering with the family cars, boats, appliances, and home improvement projects. Much to Jen's dismay, he generally would try to repair any item before replacing it or hiring a repairman. Keith liked the challenge of figuring things out and didn't like to "call the guy" until he absolutely had to.

Keith is survived by his loving wife of 30 years, Jennifer Blais; children, Austin, Matthew and Emily Blais; mother Pat MacFarlane (Casey Casavant) of Newport, VT; brother Shawn Blais (Heidi) of Otis Orchards, WA; sister Regina Stockwell (Dan) of Plano, TX; brother Tim Blais (Kathleen Martin) of St. Albans, VT; half-sister Diana Cole (Mike) of West Burke, VT; half-sister Dawn Stevens of Montpelier, VT; half-sister Traci Lamarche (Andre) of Albany, VT; and half-sister Tammy Blais of Derby, VT; as well as numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.

He is preceded in death by his father Robert J. Blais and paternal grandparents Albert and Ida Blais.

The family will receive guests for a visitation from 10:00-11:00am on Friday, November 5, 2021, at Penwell Gabel's Olathe Chapel, the memorial service will follow at 11:00am. To watch a livestream of the service, click here.

The family requests that memorial contributions in Keith's memory be made to Take a Vet Fishing at http://takeavetfishing.org or P.O. Box 8519, Bartlett, IL 60103.





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