Clutching a folded American flag given to her for his four decades of public service, she thanked the more than 300 people crowded into the Moab Community Church and noted "he'd love everyone being here."

"Remember one thing about John," she said. "He left us on a beautiful day, in an absolutely beautiful, beautiful place, doing something he loved to do, and for that we give thanks."

Keys had a high-profile job in Washington, D.C., for a few years as the nation's top water manager. Photos in a memorial video showed him on the White House lawn and shaking President Bush's hand. But it was his legendary humility, his friendliness and sense of fairness that family, friends and colleagues honored during the service.

His daughters talked about a father who taught them to love nature, running rivers, fishing, hiking and flying. Of a person who sent postcards to family members from his many road trips and who took brief showers to conserve water.

"Dad could show you a good time in the air, on the land or in the water," said his daughter, Robin Fisher.

And, in support of his wife's career, he raised the couple's three daughters in Boise for three years while Dell completed her medical degree in Colorado.

Keys served as a civil and hydraulic engineer with the bureau and as the director of its Pacific Northwest Regional office. He moved to Moab in 1998 and was appointed by President Bush to become commissioner of reclamation in 2001.

He retired two years ago with a reputation as a consensus builder. He had advanced an endangered species conservation program for the lower Colorado River and forged a new multistate agreement for sharing and using the river's water under drought conditions.

Fisher mentioned that her father died with a Bureau of Reclamation commemorative coin in his pocket.

Local water managers and even a representative of the Metropolitan Water District of California were on hand for the service. So, too, were officials from city and county government, the National Park Service, local law enforcement agencies, co-workers at Redtail Aviation and close family friends who identified themselves as members of the Sierra Club, the same organization that has advocated tearing down the dams he oversaw.

fahys@sltrib.com