Keith Newell Gifford

Keith Newell “Lil’ Squealer” “Pigadelphia” “Oinky Bob” Gifford, 73, passed away Saturday, May 2, 2026, with his wife, in his garden, surrounded by all the beautiful things he spent his life growing there. He maintained a sharp mind, fierce wit, and stubborn independence until his dying breath.

Keith was born September 27, 1952, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He grew up terrorizing chickens on his father’s feed mill, and graduated from Will Rogers High School (“Where The Outsiders was written,” he’d be quick to tell you.) in 1970. He slogged through trade school at his parents’ behest for a year before ultimately seeking loftier pursuits at Oklahoma State University, where he studied advertising and photography, and took photos for the university paper. It was there he met his future wife Stephanie (“From the better side of the tracks,” he’d say.) through an ill-advised blind first date at a pig farm. They married on July 2, 1976.

Keith was a free and roving spirit, and in the intervening years of his life, he held down too many jobs to keep track of just for the hell of it—zookeeper, carnival barker, bus driver. It was his job as a tour guide in Yellowstone in his early twenties that left him enamored with the scale and majesty of the American West, and that led him to eventually settle with Stephanie in Idaho Falls, where they would build a home and raise two children together. There, he sold advertising for a number of local media outlets—The Post Register, the Yellow Pages, Fox TV, and finally KIDK 3 TV—and produced all those cheesy local commercials Idaho natives love to hate. But it was his decades-long work establishing, growing, and vending with the Idaho Falls Farmers’ Market alongside Stephanie, and his work with Idaho Mountain Trading, that led to him becoming what will be a dearly missed patch in the fabric of the local community.

In the later years of his life, after losing Stephanie to breast cancer in 2016, Keith married Linda Grant, another Idaho Falls staple, on March 4, 2025, following a long engagement. Together they indulged in their best post-retirement life—traveling, attending shows and concerts, puttering around the garden, watching classic cinema, yelling Jeopardy! answers at the TV, and spending time in the nature he so adored.

Keith had a silver tongue, a laugh that could fill an auditorium, and an out-of-pocket anecdote for every occasion. He had a hypnotizing way of setting his stance, tossing his head, meeting your eye, and drawing you in for a story or a sales pitch before you even realized he had his hooks in you. Did you hear about the time he fist-fought an orangutan? The time he heard a bigfoot rifling through the trash cans outside his cabin? The time he took a cold plunge in the Stovall’s Inn swimming pool? The time he saw Mickey Mouse in his underwear? The time he watched Chicago from the fence behind a rich girl’s house? The time he got his VW Bus stuck on the beach at high tide? The time he skinny-dipped in the Yellowstone hot springs? The time he stopped rush-hour traffic to pull a yogurt cup off a squirrel’s head? The time he watched fireworks light up the ocean for miles, all the way up and down the Oregon Coast, as far as anyone could see? Did you hear about all of the living he did in his life?

Hopefully you did while you had the chance. Hopefully you’ll tell one of his stories, and think of him.

Keith leaves behind a devastated stable of family, found and otherwise, including (but not limited to): his loving second wife and dear friend, Linda Grant of Idaho Falls, and their dog Sylvie; his long-suffering daughters, Kasey Gifford and her partner CJ of Salem, Ore. and Melissa Gifford of Portland, Ore.; and his brother, Robert Gifford, and his wife Vera of Tulsa, Okla. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Stephanie Gifford, and his parents, Paul and Vonna Gifford.

Following a private cremation, there is currently no formal memorial planned, but a celebration of life will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Yellowstone Forever (yellowstone.org) in his name.

Following a private cremation, there is currently no formal memorial planned, but a celebration of life will be held at a later date. Cremation ent to the family at www.coltrinmortuary.com.