Beker, Cornelis 'Keith' 

52 10/18/1956 8/16/2009 Keith Beker, beloved husband of Colleen 
Patke Beker, died unexpectedly on Aug. 16, 2009. The oldest of 
three children, Keith was born in Haarlem, Netherlands to Herman 
and Joy Beker, and later welcomed his sisters, Jossita and 
Myranda, who reside in the Netherlands. Keith loved traveling and 
writing, and spent time in France, Spain and Morocco, camping and 
meeting new friends when he wasn't working as a translator for 
movies and television programs in Holland. Keith came to the 
United States and lived in Texas for a year while he attended 
flight training school, but was not able to fly in Holland due to 
a physical issue. He returned to the U.S. in 2001 to meet his 
future wife, Colleen, whom he had corresponded with through an 
international pen pal club. He returned to Portland in April 2002 
and married Colleen. Keith loved being a part of Colleen's large 
extended family, who immediately adopted him. Keith most recently 
worked for Walgreens in the specialty pharmacy. An avid science 
fiction and horror fan, Keith loved watching films and reading 
books in these genres. He recently finished writing his first 
novel which he described as a combination of science fiction, 
horror and black comedy, and was actively seeking a literary 
agent as he worked on a second novel. He also loved "art cars" 
decorated in avant-garde ways, and was known for the numerous, 
crazy bumper stickers he put on all of the 65 cars which he had 
bought and sold in his lifetime, another favorite pastime. Keith 
is survived by his wife, Colleen; his parents and sisters in 
Holland; cousins, Sue and Andre Antheunisse of New Jersey; and 
Colleen's family in the Portland area: the Raymonds, Mahoneys, 
Saunders, Svendsens and Travers; and Colleen and Keith's 
long-surviving cats, Ghost and Hunter. A private family service 
will be held. Anyone who wishes to remember Keith may make a 
donation to the Cat Adoption Team in Sherwood at 
http://catadoptionteam.org/donate.

Published in The Oregonian on August 22, 2009