Rodney Keith Walton loved getting up early to watch the sunrise, playing tennis and reading. He owned so many books, they filled a room. Keith was very active in school; he studied hard and excelled. In ninth grade, he won an excellence in education award and graduated with honors from high school.

After graduation, Keith worked for Hostess for five years. He then worked in the supermarket industry, moving up from stock clerk to assistant manager and then manager of a Vons in the West Los Angeles area.

At Vons, Keith was part of a diversity training program, traveling from store to store, talking with managers and clerks about how to treat people. He listened to his co-workers and they trusted him, knowing that what they said was kept in confidence. He often helped them without being asked and never asked anything in return. Keith was a giving, thoughtful person.

Family was very important to Keith, and the Jurardo family became part of his extended family. He did everything with Yolanda, Tony, Richard, Frankie and Tina and considered them family. Keith was also very involved with his nieces and was the male role model in their lives. He spoke to them daily, brought lunch to school if one of them forgot it, and generously bought them cars.

In April 2009, Keith renewed his driver’s license and told his mother, Jewel Williams, that he had registered to become a donor should anything happen to him. On September 16, 2009, Keith, 47, suffered a serious stroke. Three days later, he became an organ and tissue donor. Keith’s family is grateful that four lives were saved and countless others were enhanced with Keith’s donation.

“Keith was a giver, that’s how he was known,” Jewel said. “It didn’t matter if he knew you or not. Keith truly enjoyed his family and was the glue that held us all together. I feel blessed that Keith touched so many lives and that God blessed me with such a beautiful child who was warm and giving to everyone.”