Elmer Keith had a son. As I remember, Elmer only mentioned him very occaisionally in his writings.
I have often wondered what ever became of him-what he did with his life. I get the impression he was not as much into the guns and hunting thing as his father was. Were they not all that close, perhaps because Elmer was away from home so much of the time? Did they not get along well?
I would like to think that if I had been Elmer Keith's son, I would have done everything I could to to get to the point to where I could make a living doing what Dad did.
I had a good father, who had to work hard jobs 6 days a week to support his family and had little time to do the things he loved doing like hunting and fishing.
Elmer was a very lucky man in a lot of ways.

From what I can remember he also had a daughter named Drucilla? who died at a relatively young age. Elmer rarely mentioned his family in his writings.
Jim

Elmer's son spoke at the S&WCA meeting in Boise several years ago.
He told stories about his father, he had been a smoke jumper then an accountant at a school in Boise that became Boise State.

__________________
SWCA 1932 SWHF 135

I remember reading that Elmer was descended from William Clark, of Lewis & Clark fame, and that Druzilla was a family name that he hoped to pass on down.

__________________
John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

Perhaps strangely, this reminds me of the Monty Python skit where the playwright father berates his son for choosing to be a coal miner.

"Tungsten carbide drills?!?!?!? What the bloody hell is tungsten carbide drills?!?!?"

The place to look for facts about his family life is not in his magazine articles but in his books. There are many pictures of Ted in the two biographies and SIXGUNS. There are pictures of him shooting and several of his guns. He also hunted with a 5" 29.

I happen to visit the Keith display in Boise several times in 2013 and 14. Got to talking to another visitor who said a couple of years before he was in there one day and struck up a conversation with what turned out to be Ted Keith.

I've read thousands of articles in gun magazines and rarely recall family mentioned by any of the gun writers...

Bob

You also need to remember that Keith came from a time when family was family and work was work. Lots of public people kept their families out of their public life. Some of those like Keith usually only brought family up when writing about their actual lives.

Lots of kids, who appreciated their parents way of life, decided to take a different path for a million reasons. My real father was a salesman, my step dad a concrete contractor. I don't like sales, I hate working concrete. Steel give me steel. I want to shape it, weld it, machine it, modify it. LOL. My son has a masters in English, my daughter raises her kids. Neither one of them care to even put a nut on a bolt. That's fine.

When I was a boy and told my Dad I wanted to be a utility lineman like him and climb power poles and install electrical wires...He said, No you don't, you go to school and get a job in an office...be cool in summer, warm in winter and less chance of getting electrocuted ! He wouldn't hear any talk of me working for Gulf States Utility Co like him, he made sure all of us went to college .
The old man was right of course , architecture turned out to be my calling...not climbing utility poles in hurricanes like my old man did.
Thanks for the advice Dad !
Gary

His daughter's name was Druzilla........Not Drucilla. Read the autobiography Keith to learn more about his family.

Ted was a smoke jumper in college. I remember reading that Elmer had give him a Ruger Bearcat to carry with him.

Last I read, Ted's health is declining. Seems like I remember seeing a picture in one of Keiths books that Ted had some children also but I have never heard anything about them.

He had a grandson named Gregor.

Thanks all for the information.

Appreciate all the info from everyone.
I would like to have heard Ted's stories about his father.
I have read several about him from other writers, some of the better ones concerning how Elmer conducted himself in social situations when far away from home and out of his element.

I seem to recall he frequently mentioned his wife Lorraine, only rarely Ted. It was a different time then. Keith’s book Hell, I Was There got into some of the early details of his family.

I have that book.

I have that book.

I did too, at one time about 35 years ago. It was loaned a few times and the last time it didn’t come home. Wish I had it back to read again.

I met Lorraine and Elmer when Elmer spoke at a hotel in Dallas about 1977. I covered the event for both, Gun Week and, The Dallas Morning News.

Lorraine seemed nice and she and Elmer got on well. He had evidently told her that he suspected that he'd be given a gun, a Mikkenger Arms .44 Magnum, and he smirked a bit when that happened, showing her the gun.

I was then married and my wife enjoyed meeting the Keiths. I got Elmer to autograph some books.

The next day, he fired the Mikkenger (sort of a Ruger Blackhawk copy with very tight tolerances and QC) at the Winchester range. I had to explain to a TV newsman who Keith was and why anyone might hunt game with a revolver. The TV guy was astonished to see Elmer hitting a target 200 yards away.

Keith mentioned Ted and pictured him in his books, and I think the Keiths were a close family.

Jack O'Connor mentioned son Bradford numerous times, as well as daughter Caroline. Son Jerry had some problems and was less mentioned. I think Bradford became Outdoor Editor at a Seattle newspaper. Jack's wife Eleanor was often his hunting companion and was frequently seen in his articles. Her custom 7X57mm built on a Mauser action killed a lot of animals! She killed a BIG tiger with a .30-06!
Jack used a .375 on tiger, not the .270 Model 70 Winchester custom rifles that he was most identified with. He had a pair of .416's and a .338, too.

Warren Page at Field & Stream mentioned taking son Kem (?) on a safari in which Kem used a .280 Remington. Of course, his dad was famous for promoting 7mm Magnums.

Most gun writers haven't mentioned family a lot, as it's sort of unprofessional. But John Wootters, Jr. let us know about wife Jeannie, and Col. Charles Askins told about his family in, Unrepentant Sinner. He even took them on a tour sponsored by gun firms, on which only he should have been present.

Skeeter Skelton mentioned son Bart and showed him as a kid, using, I think, a Walther PPK .22, at age six! Bart later did some gun writing, but I haven't seen him in print for some time.

I've shown my son in some articles and mentioned him here. He was the cover story in an issue of, Gun Week, where I described his experiences in Iraq, with him supplying the photos. He's a member here, and has asked that I not discuss him or his family much, for Internet security reasons. My daughter is also concerned about that. But she was in an article for a knife magazine after we visited the American Bladesmiths School in Arkansas. She was quite a hit with the knife smiths and other guys, and enjoyed the male attention.

But she has just one S&W, a Model 38 that her husband inherited, and isn't much into guns. So, she isn't mentioned much. And she's a school teacher and the education field isn't much on guns, and it might hurt her career if some liberal administrator saw her in a gun article.

BTW, I tried to coax my former barber into appearing in articles, just holding some product being reviewed. She is a total fox, a hot blonde. And her teen daughter became a professional model. Neither wanted to be seen in gun magazines, fearing kidnapping or harassment. I did get a fashion buyer for a major dept. store to pose for an article on how to use knives defensively. If you've read Col. Applegate's, Kill or Get Killed, you'll know some of the poses. Cathy just looked a lot better than Rex Applegate did in those poses!

But her friends and a neighbor tried to convince her that it was weird and sort of kinky to be in a knife magazine and she wouldn't pose beyond the first article.

David W. Arnold had his wife do the line drawings in his, Shoot a Handgun, both the South African and USA editions. (The book also has numerous photos.) She is/was a superb artist and the work is fully professional.

But most gun writers don't mention their families. That doesn't mean they aren't close. It's just not too professional, and they don't want loved ones exposed to potential risks.

In the so-called social media culture of today, an individual who doesn't share every private aspect of his life via Facebook, Twitter, etc., etc., is regarded as odd.

Folks in Elmer's day preferred to keep their private lives private. Some folks, like me, still feel that way. My friends are real people, not unknown strangers who call themselves friends in an electronic world.

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Pisgah

I don't do " face book, twitter etc " so I guess that makes me odd . No offense taken by it , I've been called worse . Regards, Paul

Available on Amazon.... I bought several of Elmer's books last year with a few gift cards that were burning a hole in my pocket.
Gary

Gary, thanks for the note. Mine was autographed, so a little bit special to me. There was a letter from Mr. Keith in the book, too - both gone now. I can’t remember for sure what the letter was about but I remember it being a typical “Elmer letter” - one paragraph about half a page long, full of the usual Elmer fun stuff, and signed “Keith”.

I met Elmer Keith at the Shot Show in Chicago in 1973. He was at the S&W booth, and I chatted briefly while he autographed my Smith & Wesson Catalog. I picked up his card and a postcard sized handout, where Elmer was offering autographed copies of his books Safari ($8.50), Shotguns ($7.50), and Six-guns ($6.50), by mail requests addressed to his Salmon, Idaho, home. I wrote and purchased Six-guns. He sent a personally addressed and autographed copy of the book to me on August 23, 1973. I'm 85 and none of my children or grand children are interested in firearms, so I may put this up for sale. Care to comment of what the asking price should be on all of the above articles, including the hand addressed mailing envelope?

Quote: Skeeter Skelton mentioned son Bart and showed him as a kid, using, I think, a Walther PPK .22, at age six! Bart later did some gun writing, but I haven't seen him in print for some time.

Bart is on the ballot for the NRA board this year. I have seen some of his articles on the on-line version of Shooting Illustrated within the past year.

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I need ammo, not a ride.

Do not remember seeing a photo of Bart Skeleton shooting a PPK .22 but do have a July 1972 Shooting Times that has an article by Skeeter on the .44 Magnum. There is a photo of his son shooting a Ruger .44 Mag that is in full recoil.

That happened to my copy as well, over 30 years ago. I keep intening to replace it but still haven't done so.

Skeeter also wrote an article about building a Colt Single Action Army for Bart. I believe it was a birthday present. .45 Colt with an extra cylinder in .45 ACP IIRC.

__________________
John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

Ted Keith lives in Boise, Idaho. He is retired from an administrative position at Boise State University. Ted Keith is a long time Shriner in Boise. He and his wife Betty have been married for nearly 60 years. Ted is about 83 years old now - almost same age as his father, Elmer, who at age 84, died in a nursing home in Boise from lingering issues as a result of a severe stroke.

Here is a photograph, at bottom of post, from local news paper, Idaho Press, taken in 2010 at Ted & Betty Keith's 50th wedding anniversary.

The Keith family lived on a small ranch north of Salmon, Id. until the late 1940's when Elmer Keith moved to a house on western end of town on Lombard Street. I've been by that house a few times. The Keith family retained the old ranch place north of Salmon off Hwy 93. I drove past that place in 2018 and turned into Keith Lane. Elmer's old home and outbuildings are still there, but there is a newer A-frame dwelling up on hillside. It has been listed for sale.

Ted Keith loaned an impressive display of Elmer's firearms for an Elmer Keith Display at the Boise Cabelas, that included a diorama of Elmer's "office" complete with a robotized likeness of Elmer Keith for several years. You could hear a story related from a tape of Elmer's voice. That display has since been dismantled and the firearms collection was sold at auction a few years ago.

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"*** **** liberals crying about their kids all the time should be quiet!" Elmer would say that after watching the news and didnt like people talking about their kids all the time. Elmers and Ted Keith were very close and Ted Keith spent his whole life hunting and shooting and when Elmer passed away he spent ten years rasising morny for the Elmer Keith mueum foundation to preserve his fathers hunting trophies and firearm collection. He aslo tought me everything I know about guns and hunting but Ted was married with three daughters that were all anti gun liberals but he refused to sell any of his dads guns until 2015 when he was diagnosed with Parkinsons. The guns sold for just under two million dollars and he tried to divied the money evenly but too much greed and hate from those girls led to a divorce after 58 years of marriage. Ted passed away last year and was burried nest to his father,mother and sister in Salmon. Ted loved his dad so much he had kept the little ranch on the Northfork of Salmon where he grew up but its being sold now too. Greedy liberals selling his guns,gold and ranch but part of him lives on in me and my son the last Keith.

Mr. Keith, thank you for posting and sorry for your family troubles.

Hope you will return and tell us of some happier times with your father and grandparents.

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

+1. Lots of info about his family in that book.

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Some Might Say.

Keith's book, HELL, I WAS THERE is a good read and fills in all the blanks.

Yes , please do !
After reading "Sixguns" and buying a Ruger Blackhawk , Elmer Keith started me on a now 50+ years hobby of casting bullets , reloading and shooting handguns ... I never had the chance to meet him but would have liked to , just to say Thank You .
Gary

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Certified Cajun
NRA Member

I met Ted and his wife at the annual meeting of the S&WCA in Boise, ID in 2012. A good friend of mine from my graduate school days at the University of Montana had retired from Boise State and knew Ted from there and had also taught his wife biology. He was a guest at the meeting and the four of us had a great discussion about the Elmer Keith gun collection on display at Cabela's. Ted was also kind enough to donate an Elmer Keith Commemorative Model 29-3 to the S&WCA and it raised a good deal of money for the Association. Sorry to hear of his passing and about his divorce, as he and his wife were good people.

Bill Cross

A good friend of mine (God rest his soul) was on an extended vacation back in the 60's, and touring the West. He was close to Salmon and wondered if he could see Elmer. He located his house and actually stopped by and said hello. Being a shooter they got along well, and when Elmer heard Bill mention he was a Plumber he mentioned his toilet had a problem which Bill immediately fixed. They had their picture taken together, both were about the same height, and that picture was in Bills family room where a group of us had drinks every Friday about 5PM. We always had show & tell with whatever someone brought as a recent gun purchase. Boy, do I miss those days.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

As we grow old our "mentors" pass away.......George Nonte was a favorite gun writer of mine......Yet no one remembers him now..........At some point WE ALL pass into oblivion.

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S&W Accumulator

I do. and also C. George Charles.....

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Merle, retired
western PA

In the early 70's Maj. Nonte inspired my thirst for a .38 Super, recently satisfied.

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I need ammo, not a ride.

...and Otto Scofield

I've mentioned this before... sort of like Jeff Cooper articles, I never much cared for George Nonte's material. Despite that, and not really knowing what a good article was, I read their stuff in the '60s.

However, Nonte was involved in the preparation of one of the most interesting gun articles ever published, at least in my opinion, and I began reading everything I could find on guns in about 1962.

Neal Knox (HANDLOADER and RIFLE magazine editor) was an excellent writer and Lee Jurras, the Super Vel guy were also involved with the article. It was a two-part series: "Duplicating Hot Factory .38s" appeared in HANDLOADER #26, July, 1970 and "Pressures of Those Hot .38s" was in HANDLOADER #27, September, 1970.

These are lengthy, detailed articles about the warmest of factory .38 ammo before anyone ever heard of +P anything. Their handloads (I think) corresponded with the factory loads. The crew of three fired lots of ammo in many revolvers to come up with the interesting results. I haven't read the articles in a long time, but they're worth reading if you can locate them. Articles of this quality are seldom seen today.

"Articles of this quality are seldom seen today "
Truer words were never spoken .
I read an article on the 38 Special in the latest "Handloader Magazine " by a fellow who has been reloading it for over 50 years ... there were exactly 0 loads in the article ...Nada , Zip ...none, what a waste ...
You would think after 50 years he could publish a few of his "pet" loads .

I miss Skeeter Skelton too ... he always had some good info .
Gary

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Certified Cajun
NRA Member

I suspect that "liability" is the reason for no load data - nobody wants to get sued....

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Merle, retired
western PA

Have a few interesting Keith items to share:

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SWCA #2948
SWHF #431

I read the same article in Handloader the other day and thought "Damn Mike just phoned this one in". Normally I like most of his writing but this one just smacked of being either hurried or lazy. Maybe the editor requested a set number of words to fill a blank spot in the magazine.

I am going to the gun room now and dig out my copy of
Hell I was There .......been 20 years since I read it.
I remember thinking..."this is the best best book I ever read".
Guess I like it so much because I could relate to a lot of
it as my parents were born on a farm and had no electricity
no running water and farmed with horses.

That is so sad ... and probably so true ...
Makes me want to cry !
Gary

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Certified Cajun
NRA Member

That could be; I don't really know and I'm pretty sure many others don't know either, but "liability" is mentioned more frequently than anything else because everyone's read that over the years. Probably some truth to that, but how much?

Perhaps the method of pressure measurement is more accurate today than it was in the past. This factor alone may have significant bearing on current published data. Most, maybe all, published load data from reputable sources is pressure tested today.

That hasn't always happened. Some published load manual data was worked up in the same manner many handloaders use, citing pressure signs like flattened primers, case head expansion, and other methods that have since proven to be less than reliable in many instances.

This is all very interesting to me. I believe Ted helped with the guiding and there is a picture of him with a pack string in Sixguns, I believe. Skeeter had most of the parts for the SAA he built for Bart in his War Bag some were Christy I think. He said in the article that he wanted to have the hammer re-case hardened but there was a 50% failure rate and he had it blued and the sides polished instead. Colt SAA parts were hard to find then. I miss most of the writers mentioned here and Dean Grinnell too. I'll be 69 in June most of my mentors have gone on. Thanx for helping me remember...........

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dd884
JMHO-YMMV

Many thanks to Gregor for filling in the family details, however sad to read. I have several of the books Elmer sent me, with the nice handwritten notes. Great informative ways to remember one of our heroes. Glad I got to see the display at Cabela's in Boise before it was taken away. I have enjoyed circling back to loading and shooting .44s w/ "Keith bullets" after years of messing around with the more "modern" guns.

North Powder Oregon each year the farmers allowed small groups of hunters on the farms to kill off the overpopulated Townsend ground squirrels. Grandpa Elmer and my dad Ted took me when I was 7 and Elmer gave me a .22 Marlin semi auto rifle with a big scope. But I was born legally blind and animals hard to hit so Elmer got angry and told everyone to be quiet and stop the truck. From the top of the old International truck he taught me how to breathe then squeeze the trigger and my target was down. After that dad gave me a box of 500 22 long and said don't shoot at any people. I
was on my own Safari hunting for the giant ground squirrels of North Powder Oregon.