Darlene Marie Keller, age 87, of La Plata, MD, died on February 14, 2015 at the Charles County Hospice House in Waldorf, MD. Darlene was born at home in Opportunity, NE on April 19, 1927. She was the oldest of eight children and graduated from Butte High School in Butte, NE in 1943 at the age of 16. She taught for two years in one-room school houses (grades 1-8) in NE.

On May 5, 1945, she married her childhood sweetheart, John A. Keller in Sheffield, AL. John A. Keller was a Pearl Harbor survivor who had a career of 32 years in the United States Coast Guard. Darlene travelled with him wherever the duty assignment occurred. She also worked for Colonial Williamsburg as an escort, guiding school children and special interest groups. Her last employment was with the Prince George's County School System from 1967-1989, working as a school secretary at Lyndon Hill Elementary School and Pointer Ridge Elementary School. She worked as a bookkeeper in a law office for her son and daughter-in-law.

She is the daughter of the late Dale Potts and the late Gladys Bellinger Potts. She is also predeceased by her husband, John Albert Keller and her siblings, Gerald Potts, Wilma Baldwin, Ramona Jean Potts, Polly Ann Potts, Fred Potts.

She is survived by her son, John Keller, Sr. and his wife Cecelia; her siblings, Lester Potts and Sharon Potts; and her grandchildren, Elizabeth Keller and John Keller, Jr.

Friends received on Thursday, February 19, 2015 from 2-4 and 6-8PM at the Raymond Funeral Service, 5635 Washington Avenue, La Plata, MD 20646 and where Funeral Service will be on Friday, February 20, 2015 at 11AM. Interment at a later date at the MD Veterans Cemetery in Cheltenham, MD.

Memorials are asked to the U.S. Coast Guard CWOA John A. Keller Scholarship Fund, 200 V Street, SW, Washington, DC 20024. Arrangements provided by Raymond Funeral Service.