Leasa Keyes

Published 10:40 am Wednesday, January 24, 2024

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Born and raised the third of four feral daughters in Waterproof, LA to Patricia and Kermit Keyes, Leasa shot into this world like a bat out of H – E – double hockey sticks. A professional divorcée and singer-songwriter by trade, she thrived on telling stories and writing poetry that made others feel a prickle of the emotion coursing through her.

She was known for being more comfortable in nature than indoors (staying true to her feral roots), her peculiar sculptures of driftwood and found objects, a penchant for sharing music with loved ones at odd hours, her mean wit, and having far more compassion for animals than humans.

Leasa shuffled off this mortal coil with a stack of books in her to-read pile, a truly debilitating sweet tooth, and a trail of broken hearts in her wake. We know she’s out there rockhounding in a creek bed and collecting petrified wood while smoking a doobie, which is pretty much heaven to her.

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Leasa is survived by her favorite daughter, Adrian Bennett, a nurturing and clever soul who gave her two beloved grandchildren; her other daughter Kyla Clary, a humorless architect who stubbornly gave her none; her baby sister, Shanna Keyes, who understood her like no one else; Bennie and Margot Edmonds, the adorable aforementioned grandkids; Indigo Clary-Noonan, a neurotic Australian Shepherd she affectionately referred to as her ‘granddog’; and a handful of nieces, nephews, cousins and kindred spirits that she loved like the dickens (albeit some more than others).

Instead of sending flowers, she’d love y’all to make a donation to HoofBeats and PawPrints, because she thinks dried old flowers will just remind her kids of death all over again. We will be throwing a hoedown Friday at noon to celebrate her life, contact the family for details.