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Keith Ranger Edmundson, 44

Keith came into this world on Dec. 19, 1974, in San Jose, Calif. His loving parents, Carl and Janet Edmundson, were excited to complete their family. His mom often says, “Keith broke the mold.”

His older brother, Kevin, and older sister, Kirsten, were enamored with the bouncing baby boy they brought home. With the family complete, they lived in Saratoga, Calif., where Keith attended Sacred Heart Catholic School. When Keith was 13, they moved to the town of Blairsden in northern California.

Keith grew up in the woods, where his love of all things that brought him to nature began. He rode snowmobiles and dirt bikes, fished, water skied, hunted and camped. He yearned to climb every mountain. Keith’s curiosity about how engines ran thrived, and he soon learned to tweak motors to make snowmobiles and dirt bikes go faster. He loved to test the limits of everything.

When Keith was a junior in high school he became the youngest member of a firefighting crew in the U.S. Forest Service. He graduated from Portola High School and attended St. Mary’s College. There he built many lifelong friendships and graduated with a business degree.

Leaving California, he moved to Seattle and built a petroleum delivery service business, Mini Tankers, with his brother, Kevin. After they sold that business Keith worked for Union Bay building custom-made, high-performance snowmobile engines. He was happiest when making machines go faster.

Lured by his family, he moved to northern Idaho to be the “fun” uncle to Makayla, Haley and Bryant Donovan and Alexa, Kyle and Ryan Edmundson. He loved to spoil them rotten and then return them to their parents “perfectly normal, totally natural.” He adopted Tahoe (a four-legged child) from his sister, and many years later mourned her passing. Keith went to work for RSRacecraft and toured the country doing what he loved — wrenching on motorcycles on the racing circuit. When that job ended, he was finally ready to be a dad again and he adopted the best kind of kid, the four-legged kind, Harley.

Beyond his blood family, he had a knack of making his friends become his family. He was a kind soul whose love and generosity knew no limits. He passed away on Jan. 19, 2019, and is survived by parents, Janet and Carl Edmundson of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; brother, Kevin (Christina) Edmundson of Post Falls, Idaho; sister, Kirsten (Chaz) Donovan of Hayden, Idaho; his six nieces and nephews and many cousins.

Viewing will be from 4 to 6 p.m. on Feb. 1, 2019, at Bell Tower Funeral Home in Post Falls. Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. on Feb. 2, 2019, at St. Pius X Catholic Church in Coeur d’Alene, with a viewing from 10:15 to 10:45 a.m. A reception will follow services at the church. Please sign Keith’s online guest book at www.belltowerfuneralhome.com