Keith Jenks

Keith Jenks died unexpectedly January 21, 2026 at Kadlec Hospital in Richland. He was born on October 5, 1966 in Ellensburg, the son of Kay (Quicksall) Pierce and husband Jack Pierce. He graduated from Ellensburg High School in 1985.
He joined the Army in 1985 and served in the transportation unit in Germany. He came back stateside in 1989 and was in the reserves in Yakima in the transportation unit. He was honorably discharged in 2005.
While in the Yakima area, he attended Yakima Valley Community College where he received an Associate Degree in 2001. He then moved to Grandview and began working at JM Smuckers as a maintenance tech where he worked for 24 years. He loved the industry enough that he bought his own small cherry orchard and put numerous hours into it, not only working it, but continuing to educate himself on the crop and business.
Keith was involved with his community. He served as an assistant scout master with both of his sons from 2011 to 2023. He enjoyed teaching about the outdoors and survival, but mostly teaching the young men citizenship and character development.
In addition to the Scouts, Keith was very active with the Veteran's groups in the area. He was a member of the American Legion, Fred E. Hayes Post 57, ending his time serving as the Sergeant at Arms. He was a lifelong member of AMVETS. He was instrumental in starting AMVET post 711 in Grandview in 2003 where he was the postmaster. They had regular meetings for many years up until the group dissolved due to declining membership.
Although Keith was hard at work or volunteering, his pride and joy was his two sons. He devoted his time to their education, activities, interest, and overall well-being. He faithfully attended parent teacher conferences to stay up on his boys’ progress. He also attended a monthly, informal Coffee with the Superintendent. This was a time where parents and community members could come and bring up concerns or offer suggestions on ways to make the district better in a relaxed setting. He did want to make the school district a better place, but his main focus was making sure his sons were happy, healthy, and safe. Often, Keith’s concerns or suggestions that he brought up stemmed from conversations he had with his sons. He did attend his last coffee meeting in January even when his health was declining.
Keith also enjoyed reading, playing cards, cooking, baking, and canning whenever he got the chance. His favorite was to prepare meals for holidays.
Surviving, in addition to his mother, are his sisters Carol Jex of Syracuse, UT, Karen (Troy);Hardy of Wilder, TN; Sons Reed and Logan; and other loving aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends.
A celebration of life will be held on Monday, January 26th at the Grandview Community Center Dining Hall from 5pm to 6:30pm. Please join the family for a time to mingle and share. A separate inurnment ceremony will take place at a later date.

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