It is with the greatest of sadness that the family of Keith Willoughby Bond announce his sudden passing on Friday, November 28, 2025, in Progreso, Mexico, at the age of 72.

Born Willoughby Riggs Jr. in 1953, Keith was the second youngest of nine children born to the late Willoughby and Teresa Riggs of Stones Cove, NL. After losing both parents within a three-month period in 1955 and 1956, Keith was brought to Halifax, NS, to live with his sister Beatrice, her husband Randall, and their daughter Karen, who became like a sister to him. Tragedy struck again when Beatrice passed away shortly thereafter and Keith eventually went to live with his first cousin and her husband, Joyce and Albert Bond. From that point forward, Keith lovingly considered them his parents and their children his siblings.

Keith met Jo Anne (Hunziger) of Humphrey, ON, in Halifax, NS. After their cherished connection bloomed, they married in British Columbia in 1975.  In March 2025 they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in Copan Ruinas, Honduras at a Macaw Recovery Sanctuary, chosen specifically because these birds mate for life.  They shaped a loving family home in Humphrey, ON where they gifted each other with their daughter, Susannah and son, Benjamin. In 1999, they moved back to Nova Scotia, bringing with them five horses.

Susannah and Benjamin (Amanda Pearle) are raising their families in Nova Scotia. Keith became the loving and proud grandfather to Dawson Bond (Ruthie Mullen), Keira Bond, Zaxy and Zeya Baker, and Ben F.  Keith leaves behind his beloved wife, children, and grandchildren, as well as many cherished family and friends across the globe. He is survived by his siblings Sharon (Elaine), Darlene, Derek (Denise), Vera (the late Reginald), Frank (Lilo), Cathy (Winston), Harvey (Linda), LeRoy (Marilyn), and Wayne (Barbara). He was predeceased by his sister, Beatrice, niece/sister, Karen and his brother, Newman. Also grieving his loss is his sister-in-law, Joan (the late Newman) and Dawson's mother, Melissa Cumming.

Curious, courageous, and capable, Keith was a lifelong learner. He was an avid reader who absorbed stories and knowledge wherever he found them. Creative and ambitious, he brought that spirit into every chapter of his life.

As an accomplished chef, he expressed his creativity through food—developing innovative dishes, contributing recipes to multiple cookbooks, and earning an award from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada for his heart-healthy creations and was featured on television food networks. He was also talented in decorative food displays and ice sculpture, once carving a polar bear emerging from the ice for a television commercial.

Keith was a horse person. Inspired by watching the Halifax Lancers as a boy, Keith later combined horsemanship with entrepreneurship. When he first moved to Ontario, while building his home, he launched Parry Hoot Express, offering historical horse-drawn tours about and through Parry Sound in a wagon he had custom built. He also used his horses and skills to help erect telephone cable strand for Bell Canada in remote areas and to haul his own logs from the woods to construct and build a home for his family.  Over time he became a gifted horse whisperer, trainer, and breeder, founding Crystal Creek Quarter Horses, a business he brought with him to Nova Scotia. Many treasured family memories were made on horseback and at horse shows across Ontario and Nova Scotia.

As he and Jo Anne approached retirement, they embraced a new adventure inspired by Keith's birth father's legacy as a seafarer. They purchased a 33-foot steel-hulled Al Mason sailboat from a friend in Ontario, Keith became a new kind of captain who sailed their vessel through the St. Lawrence Seaway to the Atlantic Ocean to Gold River, NS. After five years of retrofitting their sailboat for full-time living, taking navigation and sailing courses, and practicing in Mahone Bay, they retired, sold their farm, and spent the next nine years navigating the United States, the Florida Keys, the Bahamas, Cuba, and Mexico. Along the way, they formed enduring friendships and became part of a global community of like-minded travellers.

From Mexico, they ventured to South America, visiting Ecuador, Peru, and the Galápagos Islands, and traveled by canoe along the Amazon River from Coca, Ecuador to Iquitos, Peru. They later explored Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama and Costa Rica, loving and sharing their adventures online with family and friends. They happily lived aboard their cherished vessel Bridlewilde until Keith's passing, returning home periodically to spend treasured time in person with their children and grandchildren. Keith received his first cell phone only a few years ago and quickly embraced video chats and sharing photos with his loved ones.

For many of us, Keith was neither an anchor to hold us back nor a sail to carry us forward, but a guiding light. He found his greatest joy when surrounded by those he loved, and he had the strength and courage to guide others as they found their own paths. He served his purpose well, and we are all profoundly grateful for every moment we were given with this extraordinary husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle, cousin, friend and man.

A celebration of life for Keith will be held at the Royal Canadian Legion, Ortona Branch No. 69, 232 Main Street, Berwick, Nova Scotia, at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, January 20, 2026, with light refreshments to follow upstairs. A casual reception at 3:00 p.m. will be held downstairs, where friends and family are welcome to share music and memories.

Memorial donations may be made in Keith Bond's name to Mission to Seafarers Halifax, PO Box 27114, Halifax, NS, B3H 4M8 or online at missiontoseafarershalifax.ca

Online guest book may be signed by visiting: www.middletonfuneralhome.com