A granddaughter of German settlers, she was born on November 29, 1911 on a farm southeast of Gypsum, Kansas, to John Albert and Elizabeth Karber Thiel. As a girl, she studied piano and gave lessons in addition to assisting her parents with homemaking and caring for four younger siblings until her marriage in 1935 to Arthur Laurence Keith.

They moved to a farm north of Mentor, where two children were born. During World War II, they moved to Salina where they continued a successful business of repairing radios. They also participated in Civil Defense and REACT activities. For vacations, Ethel loved to travel with her family and visited most of the U.S. and some of Canada. In their retirement years, she and Laurence traveled to Texas, Arizona and the southern California desert.

Their home was a gathering place and sometimes a shelter for family. In later years, Ethel nursed her father, her father-in-law, Chester, her brother Roland, her nephew Ron Thiel, as well as Laurence, through terminal illnesses. In addition to these men, she was preceded in death by two sisters, Edith, at age 4 1/2 and Arlene Kuntz, in March, 2006, her mother in 1934, her brother Maynard in 1939 and a granddaughter and a great grandson.

She is survived by her son, Arlen L. Keith and his wife, Marilyn, of Salina, her daughter, Elizabeth Keith Green of San Diego, California, two grandsons, Cameron Keith of Denver, Colorado and Jason Keith of Orlando, Florida, two granddaughters, Jennifer Collins of Indianapolis, Indiana and Susan Clarke and husband, Tim, of San Diego. There are ten surviving great-grandchildren: Lindsey Kaufman, Rebecca, Kaitlin and Elisha Collins, Alieah and Aaron Smith, Evan, Madison, Jacob and Kailey Clarke.

Ethel is also survived by a brother, Marvin Thiel and wife, Mildred, of Gladstone, Missouri, a sister, Nadine Swisher, of Negley, Ohio and a host of cousins, nieces and nephews.

Visitation will be from noon to 8:00 p.m., Wednesday, May 17, 2006 at Ryan Mortuary, 137 N. Eighth, Salina, where the family will receive friends from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Services will be held at Ryan Mortuary Thursday afternoon, May 18, 2006 at 1:00 p.m. Burial will be in Gypsum Cemetery, Gypsum.

The family suggests, in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions to the Mitchell County Hospital, Long Term Care Unit, 400 West 8th, PO Box 399, Beloit, Kansas 67420, or the Alzheimer's or Parkinson's Foundations.