Phillip "Tony" Keating

Phillip “Tony” Keating

Born: December 23, 1936, Morris, IL

Died: August 7, 2025, Crest Hill, IL

Age 88, longtime Joliet resident, passed away peacefully at Willow Falls Senior Living.

Tony’s life was shaped by three influences: his parents, the Christian Brothers, and his wife. Raised in a large Catholic family, his love for his faith and classical music began at an early age. When he was 14, he left home to join the De La Salle Christian Brothers. There he continued to play the piano and began his career as a teacher of Latin and Spanish. He taught at the old Joliet Catholic High School for 28 years; and after it closed, taught at Marian Catholic High School in Chicago Heights for 16 years.

Several years after he left the religious order, he met and married his wife of more than 55 years, Harriet. Together, they raised their children in the Catholic faith.

Tony is survived by his loving spouse, Harriet (Krusinski); his daughter Mary Strauss and son Patrick (Cindy) Keating; his grandchildren, Allison (Dante) Macaluso, Anna Strauss, and John Anthony Strauss; his great grandson, Ezekiel Macaluso; his sister Peggy (William) Stonich and brother Stephen (Mary Kate) Keating; and many nieces, nephews, great-nieces, and great-nephews.

Tony was preceded in death by his son-in-law, John Gregory Strauss; his parents Arthur and Elsa (Peterson) Keating; his stepmother Edna (Burns) Keating; his brothers, Thomas, Dennis, and Arthur Joseph Keating; and his sisters, Kathleen Elms and Mary Beth Barnett.

Visitation will be Wednesday, August 13, from 4pm to 8pm at Blackburn-Giegerich-Sonntag Funeral Home, 1500 Black Road, Joliet. Procession will leave from the funeral home on Thursday, August 14, at 9:30am, to St. Mary Nativity Catholic Church at 706 North Broadway Street in Joliet, where a Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10am. Interment will follow at Mt. Carmel Cemetery, Old Stage Road in Morris.

Tony’s family wishes to extend its sincerest thanks to those at Willow Falls, especially the staff, as well as the staff at Lightways Hospice, for the exceptional care and compassion shown towards him.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Tony’s memory to the American Heart Association (www.heart.org) would be appreciated.

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