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Music was a big part of Dan Keller’s life.
He played trumpet in Westside High School’s marching band. Eventually he led the band as drum major.
“He loved music,” said his sister, Nancy Lee of Omaha. “He sang often and played the guitar. He was very talented.”
That love of music accented Keller’s career, too.
“Music was a big part of his ministry,” Lee said.
The Rev. Daniel Ellwood Keller died from cancer Monday at Lakeside Hospital, Lee said. The Catholic priest was 53.
Keller, a Nebraska native, lived at St. Robert Bellarmine Catholic Church but wasn’t a parish priest. He was a family therapist for Catholic Charities.
Keller attended the Air Force Academy, and graduated from St. Thomas University in St. Paul, Minn. He studied theology at the North American College in Rome where he began his global travels, eventually visiting every continent except Antarctica.
Keller was ordained in 1982 at Mary Our Queen Catholic Church, Lee said. He served at St. Cecilia Cathedral and St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church in Omaha; St. Mary in Bellevue; St. Joseph in Wisner, Neb.; and St. Bonaventure in Columbus, Neb.
He moved to St. Robert Bellarmine in 2002 and finished his master’s degree in family therapy from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
“He was just a really caring person. He liked ministering to people. That was his calling,” Lee said.
Other survivors include Keller’s parents, Lloyd and Janet Keller, of Omaha; and brother Greg Keller of Lincoln.
Services were Friday at St. Robert Bellarmine.
Contact the writer:
444-1165, sue.truax@owh.com
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