Keith Conrad Melkus passed away on Friday, December 5, 2025, at Via Christi Village in Hays, Kansas at the age of 90. He was born July 5, 1935, on his Melkus grandparent’s farm near the community of Farry, Oklahoma. Keith was the eldest of three sons of the late Alba Connie (A.C.) and Laura May (Reed) Melkus.
Keith was a graduate of Farry High School (1953), Draughon’s School of Business in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (1954), and Northwestern State University in Alva, Oklahoma (1966,1972). He was an educator for 34 years, teaching business skills to students at Coldwater High School, Larned High School and Northern Oklahoma College in Tonkawa, Oklahoma. He retired in 2000.
He was preceded in death by his parents, brothers Lowell Linn and Francis Rand Melkus, brother-in-law Donald Ray Engle, and great grandson Jagger Dwight Welch.
Keith is survived by his daughters: Connie Wise and husband, Gary of Woodward, Oklahoma; Vicki Johansen and husband, Tom of Hays, Kansas; four grandchildren and their spouses: Jacey Wise Welch (Josh); Elise Johansen Harvey (Alex); Jared Wise (Carrie); Kiley Johansen Barnett (Reid); great grandchildren: Howdy and Jay Paul Welch, Lincoln, Aria, Salem, Abram, Asher and Rosemary Harvey, Bode Wise, and Freya and Lucy Barnett, and his former wife, Glenna Melkus.