Always known as Keith, Proctor Keith McGregor arrived in Seattle over forty years ago in search of a bustling theatre town and a cooler clime. He found both along with the love of his life, Howard M. Voland. Although only legally married since 2013, they met on a group hike at Mount Rainier on August 12, 1985, and were rarely apart after that.
Keith, the oldest son of Proctor Knott McGregor, Jr., and Harriet Jane Carr, was born June 17, 1949, in Inverness, Mississippi. After attending Inverness High School, he graduated from Rice University in 1972. He then served in the Signal Corps in Germany before earning his MFA in Theatre Directing from the University of Houston in 1979.
Keith loved everything about the theatre but especially the creative process. He designed many sets, directed many scripts, occasionally acted, and wrote not a few award-winning plays to include “The Far End of the Earth,” which won the National Play Award from The National Repertory Theatre Foundation. He collaborated with Howard on a series of murder mystery comedies. The first in the series, “Murder Inn,” is represented by Concord Theatricals and has been produced widely since its first production in 2000, which he directed at Off the Wall Theatre in Monroe, Washington. He also thoroughly enjoyed the years he worked as the Development Director for Kirkland’s Studio East.
When not writing, he most loved gardening to include volunteering as a WSU Master Gardener. He also enjoyed attending arts events of all kinds, hiking, cross-country skiing, traveling, cruising, reading, cooking, playing board games, and visiting with and entertaining his many friends.
Since December 2019, Keith fought a courageous battle against renal cell carcinoma with dignity and fortitude and with the help of a superb medical team from Virginia Mason. And when it was time for Keith to finally let go, EvergreenHealth Hospice helped make it possible for him to slip away peacefully at home. He died on the afternoon of April 4, 2024, in Howard’s arms after finishing his beloved daily martini. Keith requested that any memorial donations in his name be made to the foundations of either of these two caring institutions.
Keith was predeceased by his parents, his mother-in-law Mary Alice Voland, and his nephew Matt Douglas McGregor, Jr. He is survived by his husband Howard, his brother Matt Douglas McGregor and his wife Julie McGregor, his two nieces and their families: Jane Allen McGregor McCrory and her sons Nicholas and Crosby, and Meredith McGregor Kavanaugh and her daughter Vivian. One of Keith’s greatest regrets is not having had more time with his family in Mississippi. He is also survived by his “almost-godsons” Dylan and Travis Parker and by his storyteller “sister” Terry Breen.
An informal celebration of Keith’s life will be held this summer in the garden he designed and loved at the home he shared with Howard for 37 years in Maltby, Washington. His ashes will be buried at Tahoma National Cemetery. He will be greatly missed by his husband, family and all who knew him.
"Grief turns out to be a place none of us know until we reach it."
– Joan Didion from “The Year of Magical Thinking”