Keates, Della

In July 1939, she married Hershey Keates in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At some point following their marriage, the couple returned to Roanoke, Virginia. Hershey worked as a laborer for the Norfolk & Western Railway, and the couple made their home at 415 McDowell Avenue NW.

Della died on July 27, 1943, from intestinal cancer at just 28 years of age. In an era before modern cancer treatments, such diagnoses were often devastating and often untreatable. She is remembered here among those associated with Old Lick Cemetery.

At present, no identified headstone has been located, and it has not yet been confirmed whether her grave was among those relocated during the 1961 disinterments associated with Interstate 581 construction.