Ailie Amelia Keskinen

AILIE AMELIA (KOMPSIE) KESKINEN July 5, 1918 – September 18, 2015 Born in Hurley, Wisconsin, she was the daughter of John and Mary Kompsie. At the age of 97, Ailie was the last and lived to be the oldest of her nine sisters and two brothers. Ailie moved from a small farming community to the big city of Detroit in 1940 and lived with her two sisters in an apartment on Richton Street. During World War II, she worked the midnight shift at the Ex-Cello Corporation and when the war ended, was told that she would lose her job because the men were coming back and needed jobs. She met her future husband, Neilo, at a Finnish social camp “Loon Lake” just outside of Detroit. They bought a house in Detroit in 1948 and Ailie lived in that house until 2013. As a mother of four children, she was resourceful, creative, and approached life with a happy spirit and can-do attitude that she instilled in her children. Ailie had a sweet tooth and one of her favorite pastimes was baking delicious pies, desserts, and bread for her family and friends. At the age of 60, she took up yarn craft, creating by her count nearly 80 pieces that she gave to her loved ones. She stopped making them once she realized that everybody she knew had already been gifted more than once. She was also a crossword aficionado, claiming that it kept her mind agile. She watched soap operas from the l950’s until they stopped producing them. She is survived by her daughter Karen of San Francisco; daughter Marsha and her husband George Weichun of New York City; and her son Bert and his wife Susan Chapman of Dearborn. She was predeceased by her husband, Mathews Neilo Keskinen and by her son David Marcus Keskinen.