At a funeral Mass held at St. John the Baptist R.C. Church in Wading River, friends and relatives of Sgt. Keller were urged to do one thing as they grappled with understanding his death:
Keep the faith.
"For one so young, so good, who had an infectious smile and always kept a boyish and youthful enthusiasm for everything in life, is it natural to ask why was he taken from us?" Msgr. James Pereda told the some 400 people gathered in the sun-splashed church sanctuary. "It is a question that I do not have an answer to, nor do my brother priests."
He offered a children's story to help those in attendance, many with wet cheeks, cope with their loss.
God's plan might not make sense at times, he said, like in the story of the caterpillar crawling across an Oriental rug, confused by the haphazard placement of colors. It's not until the caterpillar turns into a butterfly, and can view the rug from a higher perspective, does the beautiful work of craftsmanship make sense, he explained.
"There will come a day when we can see the universe from another perspective, God's perspective. And then we will see the purpose," Msgr. Pereda said, adding later: "We can take comfort in the hope that we will see Jonathan again, and enjoy his friendship."
A 1998 Shoreham-Wading River High School graduate, Sgt. Keller had served in the U.S. Navy after high school before joining the Army National Guard. He suffered numerous gunshot wounds in his arm while leading a raid against Taliban forces on April 23.
He died Jan. 24 at Womack Army Medical Center in Fort Bragg, where he had been fighting another battle, one to recover from his injuries.
"It was a long road," said Fred Finter, a deacon at St. John's and a friend of the Keller family, which is involved in the church. "He's had at least nine surgeries and at least two or three battles with raging infections."
The cause of death had not yet been determined.
Sgt. Keller is the only servicemember from Riverhead to have died during or after fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Aside from the cadre of Riverhead politicians who attended the services Monday -- Sgt. Keller's father, Marty Keller, is the head of the Riverhead Republican Party -- dozens of uniformed soldiers from the Long Island-based 1st Battalion, 69th Infantry lined the walls of the sanctuary.
Sgt. John O'Dougherty of Valley Stream, a member of the "Fighting 69th" called Sgt. Keller a "soldier's soldier." "He was a damn good man," he said. "He was always pushing everybody. He gave his all.
"And then some."
After the Mass, Sgt. Keller's flag-draped coffin was loaded into a hearse and driven to Calverton for a military burial. It was followed by a group of veterans on motorcycles, members of the volunteer Patriot Guard Riders.
Mr. Finter called the military presence at the funeral services "overwhelming."
"The cooperation lent by the U.S. Army to prepare the ceremony was just magnificent," he said. "They paid great attention to detail and gave him the finest send-off you could possibly give a fallen soldier."
mwhite@timesreview.com