Beloved husband, brother and uncle, Kieran was the oldest of three sons of John K. Kealy of Dublin, Ireland, and Marjorie McQuillan Kealy of Mandan, North Dakota. Born in Oakland, California, on August 5, 1939, Kieran spent his early years in Oakland and part of the war years in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, at the Naval Supply Depot where his father was a lieutenant in the Navy. Back in Oakland after the war, Kieran recalled that his fondest memories involved attending pennant race games of the old Oakland Oaks. His grandfather, Pa, took him to the games mainly to laugh at the antics of their manager – Casey Stengel. Kieran attended grammar school at Our Lady of Lourdes (now closed) and was valedictorian of the third graduating class at Bishop O’Dowd High School, both in Oakland, before entering the University of Notre Dame on a full-ride Naval ROTC scholarship. The school was the alma mater of his childhood hero, Heisman trophy winner Johnny Lujack.
At that time Notre Dame was an all-boys university. Everyone lived in the dorms and, after freshman year, students selected housing based on their grades. Kieran was at the top of his class and for his senior year he selected the prized round turret room in Sorin Hall. In addition to participation in the ROTC program, Kieran was a Student Manager, responsible for logistics for the athletic programs. During his senior year he was one of the three Football Managers, which earned him lifelong membership in the Monogram Club. Upon graduation Kieran was selected as one of the 1,333 nationwide recipients of the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, a full scholarship for the first year of graduate studies. The program was established to promote excellence in education. He was commissioned as an Ensign in the Navy and owed the Navy three years of service. Now he was officially a scholar and a gentleman. The first stop of his Naval career was six months at the Supply Corps School in Athens, Georgia, home of the Georgia Bulldogs. He graduated at the top of his class, which allowed him to choose his next assignment: Disbursement Officer for the ships of the 7th Fleet operating out of the Naval Station in Naples, Italy. Being top of his class meant that Kieran gave the graduation address. Typically Kieran, his speech was a poem he wrote, entitled “You Gotta Keep Movin’ On,” in which he concluded that “a man is meant to roam.” That belief defined the rest of his life.
After his stint in the Navy, Kieran enrolled at Stanford University and earned his doctorate in English before accepting a position at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in the English Department. His specialty was Middle English, and for decades he taught Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, the fireside stories of ordinary people while on a journey together. He was a gifted teacher and he taught at UBC from 1970 until he retired in 2004. He served as Chair of the English Honours Program, taught in Arts One, and received the Killam Teaching Prize in 1995.
Kieran is survived by Patricia (Pattie) Childs Kealy of St. Petersburg, Florida, his wife of 50 years, and the families of his two brothers: Michael and Sylvia Kealy of Edmonds, Washington, and Patrick and Shawna Kealy of Plano, Texas. Uncle Kieran is survived by 6 nieces and 4 nephews and by 4 great-nieces and 9 great-nephews, as well as an honorary niece and nephew, Laurie Bushman and Dennis Bushman. He will be missed for his dry humor and for his no-nonsense analysis of the path one should take.
Throughout his life Kieran followed his own advice to keep roaming, and he collected mementos and kept lists of everything he saw along the way: collections of sports cards, comic books, stamps, San Francisco psychedelic posters from the Flower Generation, and vinyl records ranging from rock to Broadway. Kieran was an avid birder. Most of his roaming over the last 40 years involved seeking and finding birds to add to his list, including trips all over the US and to Africa, Australia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, England, India, National Parks and… well the list goes on. Kieran was meticulous. Everything was on a list – from receipts to daily schedules. It helped him keep track of and control over the things he loved.
Finally, every student has a favorite teacher. For so many of his former students in Vancouver and beyond, that person is and always will be Professor Kieran Kealy, and those students are his legacy.