Young cellist remembered with music

An Aug. 24 concert at Lawrence High School celebrated the memory of Christopher Keen, a member of the class of 2007 and a cellist in the high school’s music program, who died on July 22. On what would have been Keen’s 20th birthday, teachers and students performed songs like “Amazing Grace” and “Over the Rainbow.”

In lieu of flowers, Keen’s parents asked that donations be given to the Lawrence High School Orchestra Program for the Christopher Keen Mentoring Corps Fund and the Christopher Keen Scholarship Fund, which was created in his memory. The school has raised $10,000 so far.

“It’s in line with Chris’s passion for music and the arts,” said Gary Schall, the high school’s music director, recalling that he taught Keen in first grade. “It’s really a way to help advance the mentoring program and build relationships between the older students and younger students.”

The fund will help pay the college tuition of a Lawrence High cellist and expand the mentoring program involving high school students and the district’s younger students. Schall said that in accordance with the Keens’ wishes, it will also be used to pay for student trips to places like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the New York Philharmonic, and for other music and arts activities.

“Christopher actively, from the day he was in the third grade, was in the orchestra and enjoyed it a great deal,” said Dr. W. Hubert Keen, Christopher’s father. “It was a very valuable experience for him. He just very much enjoyed music in all of its manifestation.” Of the scholarship fund, Dr. Keen added, “Certainly for the time of the immediate aftermath of his death, we thought this would be a great way to honor him.”

Keen is rumored to have died of an apparent drug overdose, according to several sources. Friends said he was set to join the Marines in October.