Keith "Corky" Borders

Keith “Corky” Borders was born on December 20, 1960, in Longview, Washington to Calvin LeRoy Borders and Georgine Della Hayward. He passed away on June 6, 2025, after living with early onset Alzheimer’s for many years. Corky spent the first few years of his life catching up and surpassing his older sister, Karen, in everything but being bossy. The siblings were joined three years later by younger sister Kristen and the family moved to Kelso, which Corky always considered his hometown. Making friends was important to Corky and he had many that continued to be his friends throughout much of his lifetime. Growing up he enjoyed swimming, animals, and music, spending summers at Longview Y Camp on Spirit Lake, running wild in the neighborhood, and generally making mischief. He had brief brushes with local fame at age 10 being caught with his friends by local police breaking into the shuttered old Kelso High School, but redeeming himself by winning a community talent show in sixth grade singing and hamming up a song from Fiddler on the Roof. In junior high school he turned out for wrestling, football, and band. He played in the band and jazz band at Kelso High School. Before graduating high school, he began dating Chris Saville, who became his wife shortly after they both graduated from college. He attended Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington, majoring in Computer Science. He made many more friends during his college years and continued his commitment to making mischief. One group of friends began a Dungeon and Dragons group that met regularly for more than 40 years. Corky and Chris made their home in the Seattle area where Corky worked as a programmer and IT specialist and Chris worked as an audiologist. They had one daughter, Roxanne, and later became grandparents to Roxanne’s son Rhyder. Corky continued to enjoy many kinds of music, excelled at wood working, and loved to decorate enthusiastically for Halloween. He loved to sing Karaoke. They later moved to Bellingham where he lived until his death. Corky was preceded in death by his parents and sister Kristen. He is survived by his wife Chris, daughter Roxanne, grandson Rhyder, sister and brother-in-law Karen and Craig Funston, nephews Kjel and Peter Funston, and Richard Saville, nieces Jennifer Owens, Danielle LaFever, Diana Saville, and Lindsay Camondona. There will be a Celebration of Life at the Roeder Home in Bellingham on July 20th beginning at 1 p.m. Donations to honor Corky can be made to Dementia Support Northwest www.dementiasupportnw.org.

Keith "Corky" Borders

December 20, 1960 - June 6, 2025