I was very saddened to hear of the passing of Vin Kehoe, on Aug. 17th. I'll miss him. He was great man. I'll always remember the great dinners he took me, and my fellow company commanders to, at the Colonial Inn, and the kind words he gave me when my mom was battling cancer. He was a class act - a real class act.
the following obituary was taken from the 10th Regiment Home Page.
Born in Brooklyn, New York on 12 September 1921 of Irish and Canadian French parentage, Vincent Kehoe was brought up and went to school in Lowell Massachusetts. He attended MIT 1940-41 and Boston University in 1942. Kehoe enlisted in the US Army on 5 June 1942 and served as a ski instructor in the 10th Mountain Division as well as the 70th Division in France and Germany, being awarded the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.
After discharge on 8 October 1945 he attended the American Theatre Wing Professional Training Program for veterans and graduated from Columbia University with a BFA in Motion Picture and Television Production.
As a professional make-up artist he had been in charge of make-up for over 3000 major TV, film and stage productions, and had been in charge of the make-up department of CBS-TV in New York as well as for the NBC Hallmark Hall of Fame series. He was president and Director of Research for the Research Council of Make-up Artists, Inc., a firm that supplied specialized professional cosmetics to studios and make-up personnel all over the world. He authored a number of books on make-up, among which are The Technique of Film and Television Make-up For Color, the standard professional book and unique in its field; as well as The make-up Artist in the Beauty Salon, for use in beauty studios. The have been published in different languages in a number of countries and have received critical acclaim in their field.
In 1957, Kehoe left for Spain to produce and film a color documentary film on the art of tauromaquia, and at the same time, wrote and photographed two award winning books on los toros and Spain. In 1960 the Art Directors Club of New York selected the books for showing and award at their Annual show and in 1961, Aficionado!, one of the titles, was given the distinction of "One of the best photographed books of the year" by Photography Annual. The film was shown in a lecture series performed by Kehoe, to colleges and social clubs all over the United States.
As a professional photographer his work has been published in Time, Life, Sports Illustrated, Argosy, Popular Photography and many other leading publications. He had also photographed and produced a number of film shorts on various subjects and was the Chief Press Officer at the Spanish Pavilion of the New York World's Fair, a pavilion that won every conceivable award and honor.
In 1970, the Tenth Foot Royal Lincolnshire Regimental Association, through Major General Sir Christopher Welby-Everard, KBE, CB, DL, granted Kehoe Honorary Colonelcy in the Regiment for the purpose of raising an American Contingent of the Regiment for the American Bicentennial Celebration - the 10th Regiment of Foot. During the Bicentennial Col Kehoe led the regiment to England and Canada visiting many historical and military locals. Under his command the Regiment was a Guard of Honour for Queen Elizabeth in Boston Massachusetts and was reviewed by HRH The Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester in Lincoln England. The regiment participated in numerous historical re-enactment of the battles of 1775-1778. Although Col Kehoe stepped down as commander of the 10th Foot in September 1978 the 10th Foot continues to be a major representation of an 18th century British regiment here in North American.
Col Kehoe was a prodigious author of historical books on the American War for Independence among which are; We Were There!— April 19 1775, which is the first full collection of all the diaries, depositions and accounts of both the British and American participants and witnesses to that significant day in American history. He also wrote A Military Guide for re-enactors to re-create the uniforms and equipment of the British Army of 1775 which was originally published in single volume in 1974, and was updated and republished in four volumes in 1992. He recently completed the History of the Tenth Foot 1767-1778 which covers the service of this famous regiment during the time it served in America.
Col Kehoe passed away on the morning of Sunday 17 August, in Somis California.
