A Tribute to Thomas “Keith” Liggett

Thomas “Keith” Liggett was born June 9, 1950 and died peacefully in the Fernie Hospital “Whispering Winds” Hospice room on July 19, 2026.

Keith is not your usual guy. If you’re looking for normal and straight-lined thinking… that’s just not Keith.

Keith was born in Oakland, CA while his father was working for the Stanford Research Institute. He is predeceased by his parents Jeanne (McIntosh) Liggett and Donald Ross Liggett, as well as his sister Jan Liggett. Both mother and sister also ditched their first names to use their middle names—there’s a pattern here. He is survived by his children Ross Liggett (Kelly Liggett) and Brit Liggett (Mike Cadoux); his grandchildren Rhys, Henry, Elsie and Margaux; as well as extended family and friends, such as Dennis Murray who spent a great deal of time with Keith to help him dream of sailing and traveling.

Keith was an All-American Swimmer in high school. Many of us have heard so many stories… such as climbing a wall after bringing a groom back late from the bachelor party and flipping into a fancy indoor pool. Did this happen? Maybe. Did we all believe him? Yes.

Keith followed in his parents’ footsteps in his love for academia, completing a BA degree from Grinnell College. He majored in philosophy with a minor in American Intellectual History. He also studied Creative Writing at Boulder and Denver Universities. He became a Canadian citizen in 2004, thankfully for him since a couple of years later he benefitted from our incredible healthcare system for his heart surgery.

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Those of us who knew Keith, understood him to be a dreamer. A professional nomad. Having lived in Breckenridge, CO, Martha’s Vineyard, MA, Santa Barbara, CA, Portland, OR, Stevenson, WA, Silverton, BC, Kaslo, BC, Eastend, SK, and Fernie BC (yes, my fingers are tired!), Keith traveled for the skiing, fishing, words, and good times.

In 2012, Keith tested his own typing skills in completing his first “Death Write” in an attempt to write a novel in three days.

Writing has been at the base of everything for Keith, maybe even ahead of red wine… (Nah, who are we kidding. Red wine, good whiskey, and black coffee (“like my soul” he said) fed him through his adventures.)

Keith published his first poem when he was 16 in a literary journal at Northwestern University. His first professional writing gig was covering the trial of Jim Bowden who clocked in at a speed of 57 mph (92 km/h) in a 25 mph (40 km/h) zone while on a skateboard. The judge in that story threw out all the charges, amazed Jim survived.

Keith went on to link two of his favourite things: writing and skiing. The Quandry Times published many of Keith’s articles on skiing which turned into a syndicated column for fifteen years. After leaving Breckenridge, in the early 1990s, he continued his weekly column for newspapers in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Colorado. He also wrote for ski industry magazines.

His published books include Island Lake Lodge: The Cookbook (Whitecap, 2009) which won a Gourmand award; as well as like socks in the dryer (Salmonberry Press, 2013) a collection of poetry.

Keith was a regular contributor to Fernie.com with his Off Camber in Fernie blog and the Whitefish Review. He also worked tirelessly and truly believed in the Zincton project, taught skiing in Fernie for years and used his journalistic pass for nearly his entire skiing career until he wrote an article during the pandemic which had his pass revoked. He was proud. And upset. Maybe equally.

Keith created the Fernie Writers Conference and the St. Eugene Writers Conference. He is past president of the Federation of BC Writers.

We would like to thank the Fernie, Kelowna, and Calgary hospital staff for everything you did to help Keith, as well as the staff at Rocky Mountain Village. Thank you to all the friends who filled his room in the end, told stories, read poetry, sang songs, and those who sent messages and called. His room was filled with love and laughter. Right until the end.

Mostly, Keith was a pain in the ass, ever loving man who took up a lot of space. The idea of him being gone seems impossible.

He left us in the most Keith way: the Irish goodbye. Jetting out as we were distracted talking about him and his life events. Surrounded by a group of us, great red wine, and fine whiskey (Writers Tears).

Donations can be made in Keith’s Go Fund Me for a future writing scholarship for budding writers. The memorial will be next summer. Keith didn’t want the sad, sappy tears thing. We will hike Mount Fernie and have a party afterwards. A book share is also planned, time to be determined.