Joseph Keating

Joseph Gabriel Keating, at the tender young age of 26, passed away four days after receiving his Covid-19 booster vaccination on Friday, November 12, 2021. Autopsy was performed which indicated his cause of death as "multifocal myocarditis involving the left ventricle and septum from the recent Pfizer Covid-19 booster vaccination.”

Joseph came into this world on March 7, 1995, in Sioux Falls, SD and he was ready to conquer it and change everyone's lives who met him for the better. He was a courageous strong man that struggled with his health for 26 years. At birth, he was diagnosed with a rare type of blood vessel abnormality inside the brain called Vein of Galen Malformation. He was rushed to New York City to undergo his first of 13 brain surgeries with the brilliant Dr. Alejandro Berenstein and his exceptional team that became family throughout the years.

In addition to these surgeries, Joseph endured endless MRIs, CAT scans, angiograms, pokes, and a final radiation treatment that was a success in eliminating the AVM, which is the miracle news we had waited 26 years for. Most honorably, he never complained once. He lived his life passionately with a strong will to live and survive. Joseph was selected as a Make a Wish Child in 2000, and was honored as Children’s Miracle Network Child of the Year for the State of South Dakota in 2004. He loved to be the center of attention and had no problem stealing the show with his acts of singing and dancing. He always had high spirits.

Joseph, aka dino-master Joe, Joey, or Gabey (his devoted mother’s term of endearment), graduated from Lincoln High School in Sioux Falls, South Dakota in 2013 and continued his education at Augustana University. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in Anthropology and Art in 2017. He loved learning and equally loved his professors, creating a long and lasting friendship with many.

After college, he dove into his love of art and creative writing. Joseph specialized in oil paintings, digital paintings, and human figure drawings that he proudly displayed all around his home and online. We guarantee he tried to sell you one of his paintings at one time or another. He used his talents to create his own science fiction fantasy game called Eyes of Furite that he loved to endlessly play with his friends. Joseph was a talented and passionate painter, creator, artist, writer, and teacher, and he dreamt of going on to receive his Master of Fine Arts.

Joseph had taste buds that rivaled Anthony Bourdain. There wasn’t a food he didn’t like or wouldn’t try. He was often seen in the fall season with his favorite pumpkin spiced latte in hand. Joseph was a full experience menu eater always ordering a bougie (sometimes girly) cocktail, appetizer, dinner (usually the most expensive item), and dessert type of foodie where he truly believed he had a second stomach or extra pocket in his cheek for sweets, constantly defying the odds of his over-indulging.

He was an avid worldwide traveler with his parents, who persevered tirelessly through Joseph’s struggles to give him a memorable life full of love and care and fun each and every day, not knowing how much time they would have together. Among his favorite places were San Francisco, Portland, New York City, France, Italy, and Mexico, and was constantly making his siblings and friends jealous of where he was headed next. These trips were always centered around food (a true Keating), and history and art, his three loves. Joe was an ever-learning student of knowledge and culture, and these trips were his getaway into wondrous museums that he would wander for hours learning every fact about anything and everything and he loved it all. He was a walking encyclopedia (sometimes a know-it-all) and he enjoyed spewing his wealth of knowledge to anyone who would listen. Joseph’s phonetic skills included speaking Spanish fluently and were unmatched and whenever asked for a fact or how to pronounce a word, he always knew the answer. Especially about dinosaurs. He LOVED dinosaurs.

Those who knew Joseph, knew him and loved him. He was known for being himself and encouraging others to be themselves too. He was proud of who he was. Joseph was an avid music lover and quite the meme aficionado - always posting (also known for over-posting) and sharing them and other jokes and making us giggle with his funny witty humor and then later making us swoon at his love for baby animals with cute photos. He was witty and kind and quirky and compassionate all in one.

Joseph was a brilliant, courageous, young kind man and he will be greatly missed by all, especially his family. He is survived by his father and mother, William and Caleen Keating; his siblings, Jesse (Christi) Weideman, Catheryn (Michael) Mancarti, Jillian (Brian) Fleming, and Kaylee (John) Koch; his nieces and nephews, Tya and Jackson Weideman, Alexandra and Miles Fleming, and Ivy, Leo, and Faye Koch. He was a loving son, brother, uncle, and friend to many.