GRANTHAM — From at least the third grade, Drew Keith knew he wanted to be a police officer.
He and his childhood friend, Jeff Gilbert, would walk to school together in Sharpsville, Pa., and recount the police detective shows they watched on TV in the late 1960s and early ‘70s. They would even simulate scenes during backyard games.
So when the two were selected as “patrol boys,” or crossing guards, in the fifth grade, it came as no surprise to Gilbert how seriously Keith would take that role. He proudly wore a white sash and received what Gilbert called Keith’s “first badge.”
“He was focused. He knew exactly what he wanted to do,” Gilbert told nearly 300 police officers and family and friends at Keith’s memorial service last month at Hanover High School. “There was no question about that.”
Keith, a New Hampshire State Police trooper who lived in Grantham, died on Feb. 16 at the Jack Byrne Center for Palliative and Hospice Care at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center following a five-year battle with cancer. He was 58.
After Keith graduated from Sharpsville (Pa.) Area High School in 1979, he attended both Pennsylvania State University and Mercyhurst University, but soon came to realize college wasn’t for him. So at age 21, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, an endeavor that would connect him with a state he’d never leave.
He was stationed at Pease Air Force Base in Portsmouth, N.H., where he completed a four-year stint followed by two years in the Air National Guard. Keith was selected to attend the New Hampshire police academy while still in the military, an opportunity that led to his career.
Keith started working part-time for the Hampton and Newington police departments before becoming a full-time officer at the Amherst Police Department in 1985. He stayed there for a few years before shifting north to the Hanover Police Department in April 1989.
Keith, a 6-foot-4, 250-plus pound “gentle giant” who was intrigued by sharp-looking police uniforms and unique hats, liked the vibe of Hanover’s department, so off he went.
Keith performed general patrol officer duties and enjoyed motor vehicle work, stopping suspects and enforcing laws.
While there, Keith became an informal recruiter, encouraging at least two men to join the department, including Jamey Steinmetz in 1994 and Al Patterson in 2000. Both stayed with Hanover for some time.
“Drew was one of those very fortunate people who never actually worked a day in his life because he loved his job so much,” said Patterson, who doubled as one of Keith’s lifelong friends. “If you or I had a third of his dedication, we would be on the top of our game.”
When Steinmetz arrived fresh out of the academy, Keith became his field training officer, teaching him everything from the rules and policies of the police department to how to best investigate crimes and write reports.
The two hit the road together in the beginning and made lasting memories from the very start. Literally.
Steinmetz still laughs thinking back to his very first traffic stop when he tried to get out of the cruiser while it was still in drive and with his seatbelt on.
The pair shared a smile before Keith, who was “matter-of-fact,” told him to calm down and focus on the task at hand.
One of Keith’s passions as an officer was cracking down on drunk drivers, and he had a knack for it, Steinmetz said.
Keith stayed with Hanover police for 12 years before he joined the state police, an agency he had long sought to work for and one he saw as “the top,” his high school sweetheart and wife of 33 years, Mary Ann Babic-Keith, said recently.
Steinmetz left Hanover to join state police a few years before Keith, but the two had the chance to work side-by-side again — this time as seasoned officers.
“Anytime we went on a hot call together, I breathed a little easier knowing he had my back,” Steinmetz said at the memorial service in Hanover.
Keith had the cleanest cruiser in the fleet and his uniform was impeccable “to the point that he had polished all the emblems off his buttons,” Steinmetz said.
To some, Keith’s daily routine may have seemed like overkill, but he set the bar high for both himself and others, his wife said.
He would polish his brass and boots daily.
“I should have bought stock in Kiwi shoe polish,” she joked.
More often than not, Keith had a smile on his face. After all, he was playing his “preparation songs,” Music Box Dancer by Frank Mills and the Hawaii Five-O theme song, while he was getting ready.
It’s hard to say what Keith loved most about the job, but helping others would be near the top, Mary Ann Babic-Keith said.
In 2015, Keith was named the Grange Trooper of the Year, an award that signifies fairness, professionalism and integrity in the policing community.
Those attributes fit Keith to a T, said New Hampshire State Police Capt. Gregory Ferry.
“I don’t know if there was anyone more honored and proud to be a police officer,” Ferry said recently. “He lived the profession.”
The two met on Ferry’s first day at the police academy in 1995. Keith was part of the “welcoming contingent,” so and he and other veteran officers did their fair share of yelling, per tradition for the setting, Ferry recalled.
“I remember seeing this guy that was like 6-foot-7 and I said ‘oh my word.’ …That was my first meeting of Drew.”
But looks — and first impressions — aren’t everything.
“He looked like a prototypical trooper, but he was a gentle giant. He was the most kind, gentle, compassionate person,” Ferry said.
Keith worked for state police for 18 years and served as a member of the division’s Drill Team, as well as the Special Events Response Team, which is a group of troopers trained in riot control formations and other tactics. That team responded to the riots in Keene during the Pumpkin Festival in October 2014.
By that time, Keith was battling adversities. Having been diagnosed in March 2014 with colon cancer, he had recently had major surgery to remove cancerous cells.
The surgery put him into partial remission but the cancer came back in 2015. In typical Drew Keith fashion though, he again refused to let the disease get in his way. Despite months of surgery and chemotherapy, Keith returned to the road both times.
It was only during the very last years of his life that he was forced to slow down, doing light-duty work related to the sex offender registry. Some days he would commute to Concord, others he would work from an office at the Grantham Police Department.
Keith was strong, in both the literal and physical interpretation of the word. For much of his life, he spent five days a week in the gym, a pastime he enjoyed and felt was necessary.
It helped both for the physical demands — and perils — of police work and in presenting a positive image as a law enforcement officer.
Gilbert, Keith’s childhood friend, started out his speech at the memorial service with a spoiler alert.
Gilbert, who became a professional pilot, said he and Keith both made it in their careers. But he pondered what “success” meant. He told attendees that he read his friend’s obituary closely. One line, in particular, struck him.
“He was and always will be a constant source of inspiration to generations of N.H. Troopers,” Keith’s obituary reads.
“That’s everything,” Gilbert said. “It doesn’t matter how big your house is … if you could be a source of inspiration to your colleagues and your peers, that is success. That really says it all.”
Jordan Cuddemi can be reached at jcuddemi@vnews.com or 603-727-3248.