Enterprise Newspaper
Lexington Park, Maryland
February 4, 2011

 

Keith Kishbauch

86, Wildomar, California

  Keith Kishbauch, 86, of Wildomar, Calif., formerly of St. Mary's County,
died Jan. 22, 2011, at his residence of osteosarcoma bone cancer.
Born Jan.  9, 1925, in Jim Thorpe, Pa., he was the son of the late
Russell and Velma Kishbauch.

  He had a full life.  His early years were spent in Pennsylvania with
his brother and sisters, Dave, Margaret and Shirley.  During World War
II, he served in the Pacific with the 153rd Engineer Combat Battalion.

  He returned to graduate from the University of Maryland and to start
a family with his first wife, Jane.  They had two girls, Kathy and Jan.
He became a high school teacher and coach of basketball, gymnastics
and baseball at Jefferson Junior High School and Francis C. Hammond
High School, and was the first athletic director at T. C. Williams High
School in Alexandria, Va.  The family also had many wonderful years at
his camps, Winwah and Buckhorn in Winchester, Va.  Circumstance brought
him to a new beginning in St. Mary's County, close to the Chesapeake
Bay with his second wife, Ginny, and two more girls, Lisa and Stacey.
He continued to coach football at Great Mills and Chopticon high schools.

  One winter when the temperature hit zero degrees, the Kishbauchs decided
that the back country of California's east San Diego County would provide
the family year-around comfort.  He raised hunting dogs and pheasants,
and taught boys at the juvenile honor camps and county court schools in
Warner Springs.  And he coached again - football and girls basketball and
softball - at Borrego Springs High School.  When he retired, he hit the
links and focused on San Diego Charger football.  For the next 20 years
he developed great friendships at Sun City's Cherry Hills Golf Course,
Charger home games were the highlight of the fall and winter seasons.

  Doctors knew the bone cancer was an unusual diagnosis for a man of
his age; they told him in January 2010 that he could no longer play
golf, and to make the best of the six months he had left.  He more than
doubled his odds.  Through he could not play golf and was not able to
attend Charger games in 2010 he concentrated on making every day count.
He focused on family; staying active, finding purpose in every minute and
considering what it would take to reach each goal, including attending
a family reunion in South Carolina with every one of his children,
grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  He was back to coaching, with
a cheering section from all over the country, extending his "season"
an additional six months.

  He is survived by his family, three siblings, four daughters, seven
grandchildren, 10 great-grandchildren and his hundreds of players, all
of whom became his biggest fans and cheering section during this last
game in life.  The support and encouragement gave him many "overtimes."

  His family will celebrate his life Feb. 19  in Wildomar and April 3
in Murrellls Inlet, S. C.