Wendell, MA – Caleb William Keller was born December 15, 1979 in Westminster, VT. He grew up and resided on his family farm in Wendell, MA, where he passed away on August 20, 2026. He was laid to rest at the family cemetery on the property.
Caleb formed lifelong friendships at Swift River School, Northfield Mount Hermon School and Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts at The New School. Following his education, he traveled extensively throughout the United States and abroad, including extended stays in the Southwest and China.
Caleb loved language and the arts as well as nature and construction. He spent a year living in Hong Kong teaching English to Cantonese speaking children, spent several years reforesting the Southeastern United States, and managed blueberry stands in Maine and Western Massachusetts. He left a lasting mark on both these locations, where the cabins he constructed and lived, stand in their roughhewn beauty. Caleb also helped to establish Park Hill Orchard in Easthampton, MA, where his master pruning and organic methodologies were instrumental in its success. Local land owners frequently sought his expertise to restore and nurture their landscapes, leaving his mark of craftsmanship across Western Massachusetts properties and much terrain.
Caleb appreciated the precision and intimacy of traditional New England farming. He could wield a scythe with speed and grace. He studied, cultivated, and hunted mushrooms. He chose to repair rather than discard, and had a unique talent for building with raw timber–turning stumps into scenic foundations and branches into railings. He embedded vintage bottles into his sauna walls for illumination, designed a wood fired outdoor bathtub for winter nights under the stars, and ecologically collected rain water. His footprint was light, his mark evident and unique.
Caleb participated in farm theater as a lead writer, played the accordion and clarinet, and loved The Blues. While living in New York, he engaged in theatre at Brooklyn Community Garden and assisted in editing a literary magazine.
Imbued with calm physical and mental strength, Caleb was deeply self-reliant and spent a lifetime educating himself. His library and thriving collection of cacti and non-indigenous plants filled his home. All that knew him recognized his inherent kindness and excessive generosity in helping others. Speak little, speak well in action, his code of values.
He is survived by his parents, Nina and Daniel Keller; his brother, Eben Light; his sister, Clara Bloom Sarr, and her husband Abdou Sarr; and an adoring cohort of nephews, cousins, aunts, and uncles.
A memorial service will be held at 1:00 on November 1 at 58 Deerfield St., Greenfield, MA.
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