Charles Humphrey Keating IV
2/26/1985 – 5/3/2016
Written by Brooke Keating, C4’s wife and VP of The C4 Foundation
May will always be “The Month”. It will forever be an emotional cascade for me, it weighs heavy.
May 3rd marked 5 years since everything happened with Charlie.
Looking back on the last five years it seems an unquantifiable blur.
In some ways it has gone by so fast and yet, it seems like an eternity ago. These things seem to stay with all of us who knew him.
Five years ago on May 3rd 2016, the early morning started with a call that changed my life and so immeasurably, many others.  On that dark day, the future looked impossibly bleak as the news was overwhelming and hard to comprehend. Looking back, it’s incomprehensible reflecting about how this community immediately came together and supported me and our family – this realization still makes me emotional. I remember driving down the streets of Coronado on our way to Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, and seeing the streets completely lined with kids, families and patriots waving American flags and offering thoughtful words of kindness, care and remembrance.  They were honoring Charlie proudly in the only way they knew how. It was immeasurably priceless and I want them all to know this.
Every year since we have celebrated his life. Whether it be a Chuck Heavy T-shirt on Mt. Everest, a Chuck Heavy T-shirt surfing, or a kid telling about the life of Charlie for a class project at school, his legacy lives on. Charlie lived his life to the fullest every single day and lived with positive energy and an optimistic attitude. He would never want us to sit idly by and not be out there living like he did with vital enthusiasm. It was through his spirit that The Charles Humphrey Keating IV Foundation began and the magnificent C4 Ranch was formed. The powerful ongoing legacy of Charlie lives on through the C4 Foundation and I am so very proud, it makes me truly happy.
 
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