Keith Majure

Keith Majure, husband, father, grandfather, and friend, passed from this life on May 29, 2023. Our loss is heaven’s gain; as we know that his address is no longer in West Monroe, Louisiana, but eternity in Heaven with Jesus. 

Keith’s life began on August 20, 1942, when he was born into a rural farming family near Madden, Mississippi to his parents, Mary Ida and Will Majure. We are not sure what grounded him more: his parents, his sister Barbara, or the farm (more affectionately known by Keith as his homeplace). We know he loved his parents, sister, and the farm deeply and they each instilled core values that served him all the days of his life. 

When Keith left the homeplace farm after graduating high school in 1960, he pursued his love of agriculture at Mississippi State University. He graduated in 1964 and began a lifelong agriculture career that spanned the Delta. His career first took him to Rolling Fork, Mississippi, as an agriculture equipment salesman. Then, he went on to another special place in his heart, Tunica, Mississippi. There he worked as an assistant county agent and managed a large row-crop farming plantation.  In 1979, he was hired as a tech service representative for ICI Americas. That position moved him and his young family to West Monroe, Louisiana in 1980.  He would remain in West Monroe the rest of his career, serving in various roles within other ag chemical companies -Zeneca, Syngenta, and Gowan.   

Keith was a people person, gifted in the art of verbal and non-verbal cues. He never met a stranger and had a gift of relationship building. He could connect with people from all walks of life through his visiting and storytelling. He told colorful stories in a way that you felt as though you were watching them as they happened. One of his most prized and memorable stories he often told is how he met “The Queen” and love of his life, Laurie Majure (then Laurie Lorenz of Minneapolis, Minnesota), when he was training in Minnesota with his Mississippi Air National Guard Unit in 1968. He often said that he had to make the courtship quick and marry her after running up a $20 phone bill and blowing the engine in his Volkswagen Beetle, because he was out of money. The family knows better. It was love at first sight and divine intervention. He couldn’t wait to marry Laurie. Keith and Laurie have now been married for 53 years.    

Keith’s intellect was unrivalled. He had many diverse interests in life and spent countless hours on each of them. He valued God’s creation in the beauty of horticulture. Plants and trees like: Dogwoods, Japanese Maples, Camelias, Sasanquas, Azaleas, Aspidistra, and grass like Zoysia and Tifway Bermuda were among his favorites. His yard was his place to be in communion with Jesus and to see the cycle of life play out year in and year out, reminiscent of our own lives. 

 A significant special interest and talent of Keith’s was his Corvette hobby. Keith’s technical knowledge on 1963-1967 Corvettes has been sought after nationwide. He was instrumental in Bloomington Gold, one of the largest, most successful Corvette Shows in the World, where he was responsible for implementing the Corvette judging and certification standards process that’s still being utilized today. 

While this was his hobby, it was more than that. It connected him with his family. When you saw Keith, you always saw Warren. Always. Buying, restoring, and tinkering on these old cars is what they did together. It was their inseparable bond and a special connection they shared.   Warren has become an expert himself because of his Daddy. Keith’s Corvette legacy will live on in the next generation as well through his grandsons. His youngest grandson, Anders, even had the honor of naming the last corvette Keith purchased. He affectionately named the car “Big Brother” because it had a big engine and it looked identical, in the same family, to another car Keith owned named “Marty.”

Keith’s friendships are another of his special interests. We once remember him saying that in life if you have three close friends, your life has been successful. Keith’s friendship network is vast. If that’s a gauge of his success, then his measure of success is off the charts. He’d do anything he could for his friends, never asking for anything in return. 

Keith is survived by his wife, Laurie; sons, Warren and John and wife, Stacey; grandchildren, John Wallace, Anders, and Merritt; brother-in-law, Ernie McAlpin; brother-in-law, Paul Lorenz and wife, Carla; sister-in-law Margaret Anderson and husband, Wayne; sister-in-law, Kathy French and husband, David; and numerous cousins and nephews. 

Keith was preceded in death by his parents, Mary Ida and Will Majure; and his sister, Barbara McAlpin.

Special thanks to his caregivers: Kenny Anderson, Pat Burton, Andrea Hutcherson, Patricia Jenkins, Pam Robinson, and LHC Hospice.

Visitation will be held at Feazel Chapel at First West Church in West Monroe, LA on Saturday June 3, 2023, at 1:00 P.M., with a Memorial Service to follow at 2:00 P.M. 

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Chennault Aviation and Military Museum in Monroe, LA, or a charity of choice.