Obituary: Keith Monley, 1949-2024

Keith
Calvert Monley, 74, died at home on June 11, 2024, as a result of
advanced pancreatic cancer. By his side were his wife, Elizabeth; his
sons Jan-Karl and Michael; and his dear friend Sue Trainor.

Known
far and wide as “Dr. Doom” or “McFate,” Keith was born in
Hartford, Conn., to Fred and Emily (Marshall) Monley. With his
brother, Marshall, he grew up in Westfield, N.J., where he proved a
genius in mathematics, English and defying authority — for
instance, by refusing induction into the National Honor Society,
which he richly deserved.

He
began college in the architecture program at Cornell University,
dropped out due to lack of funding, sidestepped the draft and
eventually found his way to Vermont, where he did some coursework at
Goddard and learned to build houses, most famously with David Sellers
of the innovative design/build movement. Eventually he completed his
BA in German at the University of Vermont, where he met and
collaborated with longtime and stalwart friend, Erhard Mahnke.

Keith
had always loved writing, and so in 1977 he enrolled at Columbia
University, where he earned an MFA in fiction writing and turned down
an opportunity to publish a story in the New
Yorker before returning to Vermont to build houses full time. After the
housing crash of the 1990s, he picked up the pieces by becoming a
freelance copy editor, primarily at Penn State University Press, for
whom he worked until his diagnosis.

Keith
sired three sons, all of whom survive him and of whom he was very
proud: Noah Dranow, with the Nobel Prize-winning poet Louise Glück;
Jan-Karl Driscoll, with speech pathologist Karen Driscoll; and
Michael Monley, with novelist Elizabeth Inness-Brown. Liz and Keith
were married in 1987. Noah and his partner, Priscilla Young, have
made a start of continuing the family line with the birth of their
twin daughters, Emily and Elizabeth, who were four years old at the
time of Keith’s death.

Later
in life, Keith’s great loves were hiking and letter writing.
Starting in the ’90s, he hiked the Adirondacks and Green Mountains
weekly year-round, at first alone and later with hiking partners,
notably Nick Floersch and Eric Bishop. In later years, the group that
accompanied him grew to include several others, but Eric, who had
once been Keith’s carpentry partner, was the most steadfast. Keith
was as loyal to him as he was to Keith.

As
for letters, Keith carried on prolific correspondence, in later years
mainly with Louise but also with his old friends Ezra “Art”
Tishman and Ricka “RJ” McNaughton. His letters were known for
their erudition, dark humor and linguistic artfulness. For example,
from June 3, 2023:

I
have never achieved peace of mind through effort. Berryman was wrong
when he said, “nothing of any value ever came of anything other
than struggle.” Peace of mind is like rain: you may put yourself in
the best position possible to encounter it, but it will fall upon you
or not as if capriciously. You can will yourself to sit still, but
can you ever put yourself into a meditative state? I don’t think
so.

In
keeping with his love of the woods, Keith had a green burial at Hazen
Westview Cemetery just north of South Hero, where he had spent the
last 30 years of his life. A party in his honor will be planned when
it’s convenient for his friends, for Keith never wanted his death
to be a bother. Always kind to his caregivers, he mowed the lawn, did
the dishes, cracked wise and hiked almost ‘til the very end. The
accompanying photograph was taken on a hike at Niquette Bay State
Park just 12 days before he died.

Keith
Monley was well loved in his life, will be missed in his death and
will surely be remembered by all those whose lives he chose to enter.
At last, he is at peace.

Donations
in Keith’s name may be made to UVM Home Health & Hospice or any
charity of your choice.

This article appears in Jun 12-18, 2024.