The first thing Keagan Provost always did when his grandmother took him to the Heber Springs library was to give all the employees a hug, she said.
“If you ever saw his smile, you’d never forget it,” said Zac Cothren, director of the Mary I. Wold Cleburne County Library.
Keagan died in January, a month before he turned 9, after battling brain cancer almost his entire life.
Now the children’s library has been named after the little boy who has been described by many as “a warrior.”
The Keagan Provost Children’s Library will keep his memory alive for patrons and staff.
“He embodied courage and a sweet spirit,” Cothren said.
Keagan’s grandmother Nancy Provost is treasurer of the library’s board of directors. Keagan is a son of Provost’s son, Mike Provost of Conway, a graduate of Heber Springs High School, and Robin Unwer of Maumelle. The couple also have a 5-year-old son, Jaxon.
Keagan was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor when he was 13 months old and had several recurrences of the disease, Unwer said. When he was younger, he called them “buggies” in his head. He’d undergone 86 surgeries in just under eight years and had spent months at a time in the hospital. He died Jan. 17.
Through it all, Keagan was always smiling, giving the thumbs up in pictures. His favorite color was orange, and he loved Batman.
“He was just the happiest kid in the entire world,” his mother said. She recalled with a laugh that he asked for chocolate pie the night before he died, and they watched Moana together.
“We knew it was going to happen at some point and time, but … it came so suddenly,” she said.
The family said 2,000 people attended Keagan’s visitation and funeral. His supporters called themselves Keagan’s Krew; 14,000 people followed the Facebook page.
“He never met a stranger,” Unwer said. “So many people have reached out to me since he died. People who met him only once will say, ‘He gave the best hugs in the entire world.’”
Unwer said she and Mike took the boys to Heber Springs often to visit Mike’s parents, Nancy and Bob.
Nancy Provost, a retired registered nurse, said a love of books runs in the family. The children’s collection in the Heber Springs library was named after her aunt Mary Alice Cooper.
When Keagan and Jaxon came to visit, Provost said, she took them to the library.
“Keagan loved the puppets more than the books,” she said, and he was especially attached to Pat Hoisager-Ellis, the children’s librarian,” Provost said. “[Keagan] met Mrs. Pat, and it was instant love; he just adored her. He’d come into the library, and he’d give everybody at the desk a hug. They all loved him, too.
“He’d go into the children’s library, and he’d find her and say, ‘Come on, Miss Pat, we’re gonna go do the puppets.’ He’d put on a puppet show. God bless her; she was his best audience.”
Hoisager-Ellis said that to know Keagan was to love him.
“He was a sweetheart. It’s amazing for the pain and the medical care that Keagan was receiving for him to be able to be so brave and courageous and just optimistic,” she said.
“The child went through so much, but I never heard him talk about being sad or about any of his health problems. ZaZa (his grandmother) would bring him,” Hoisager-Ellis said. “He loved the puppets. We have a little stage; sometimes his brother was with him. We would get out the puppets and make up little skits and make the puppets talk and just play.
“He was a remarkable child; he really was.”
Hoisager-Ellis said she agreed wholeheartedly with the idea to name the children’s library after Keagan.
“I think it’s wonderful; it’s wonderful, because Keagan was such a warrior,” she said. “And I think it’s great because … for those who might not have known it, they will see his story and understand what a special child he was.
“He’s missed — that optimist spirit and just so much fun.”
After Keagan died, Nancy Provost said, she suggested getting puppets in Keagan’s memory.
Puppeteer Jan Wolfe of Little Rock had two puppets made — one in Keagan’s likeness, with an orange K on his shirt, and one that looked like Jaxon, wearing a Batman shirt.
“I thought that was the end of it; I was very pleased. Keagan would love the puppets,” Provost said.
Cothren, a father of two, said that although the puppets were a good idea, “that didn’t seem adequate” to honor Keagan’s memory.
“He touched so many people in such a short time,” Cothren said.
He said he tends to be a “woe-is-me person,” and Keagan personally inspired him.
“Here’s this kid … fighting this awful disease and what he had to endure. I’ve known lots of adults who go through treatments, and I know how rough it was for them. I can’t imagine on that little body, and to still have that smile. When I start whining and complaining, I can look at that,” Cothren said of the library’s plaque that honors Keagan.
Cothren said the staff tried to keep the naming a secret from Provost. He used black plastic to cover Keagan’s name on the outside of the building, but finally, the project became too difficult to hide, Cothren said.
On a recent Friday, he called Provost into his office and showed her the plaque. It was dedicated to Keagan Robert Provost, “The Warrior.” Nancy said she was speechless.
“I didn’t know what to say. I was mute, and anyone who knows me knows I’m never mute,” she said. “I was astounded that they did all this.”
Unwer also said she was overwhelmed when Cothren called and told her about the library being named in Keagan’s memory.
She often accompanied him to the library, where she said Keagan had free rein, whether it was playing with the puppets or putting on a Cat in the Hat hat and gloves and walking around.
Mike Provost said having the children’s library named in Keagan’s honor is touching because Heber Spring is Mike’s hometown.
“When I heard they dedicated two puppets to the library, that was just awesome by itself,” he said. “When I found out the whole children’s library section was dedicated, it just took my breath away.”
Mike said Keagan’s attitude was that of a warrior, never complaining and facing every challenge matter-of-factly.
“The thing about Keagan is, … if you had put Keagan behind a curtain like in The Wizard of Oz, you’d never know he was sick. You would know if his head was shaved, but if he had a full head of hair, you wouldn’t,” Mike said.
“Keagan never portrayed he was sick, never portrayed he was hurting inside. He met you with a hug, whether he’d known you five minutes or five years, and left you the same way,” Mike said. “He carried on with his life like this [cancer] was part of it.
“Somebody who can take on the load, the battle he had, and keep a smile on his face the whole time — literally, Keagan was never in a bad mood — that’s a warrior.”
The library’s plaque in Keagan’s memory tells about his cancer diagnosis and the impact he made.
It says, in part: “His contagious smile and bravery throughout his battle won the hearts of all who met him. Though his time on Earth was short, he became an inspiration to more people than most of us would dream possible in multiple lifetimes.”
His father said Keagan’s purpose in the world “was to change people’s lives, to show you that you can be stronger, not take things so seriously, just show you to be happy and unconditionally support people.”
The plaque also includes this quote: “Courage, above all things, is the first quality of a warrior” — Carl von Clausewitz.
“He was a warrior; he really was,” Nancy Provost said.
The plaque also says, “While he is no longer physically with us, he continues to inspire those who had the joy of knowing him and many who did not.”
“One of my fears, I was afraid in 20 years from now, nobody would remember Keagan; and now he’ll be remembered forever,” Nancy said.
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-5671 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.