When people attending Oak Harbor’s community Thanksgiving dinner told what they felt most thankful for, many echoed that they felt grateful for Keith Bartlett.

Bartlett, who had the idea of bringing the community together for a celebration of Thanksgiving in a family atmosphere, was not able to attend this year’s successful dinner.

After spending weeks organizing, gathering funds, food and volunteer services for Thursday’s dinner, Bartlett’s giving heart gave out and he died of a heart attack that morning. At the time, he was in the kitchen of his Pot-Belly Deli, getting ready for the big dinner at the Elks Club.

County Coroner Robert Bishop said Bartlett’s heart attack occurred at about 6 a.m. He was 53 years old.

Oak Harbor resident and owner of Dairy Valley Ice Cream and BBQ, Roger Anglum, said, after receiving the news, all the volunteers of the dinner and community members pulled together and decided to continue with the dinner, because providing an old- fashioned Thanksgiving dinner for the community was Bartlett’s goal.

“You see all the community come together and eat and have a good time. That’s what Thanksgiving is all about,” Bartlett said, in an interview earlier in the week. “This is an old fashioned Thanksgiving. You got your family, all your friends are there — everybody.”

This is what volunteers and community members strived for Thanksgiving day.

“Today, were doing everything for Keith,” Anglum said.

Anglum said the news of Bartlett’s death shook everyone up, but that they soon realized they day would proceed and that many families who had made this their tradition would come. In addition, many disabled individuals and others who couldn’t leave their homes were waiting for dinner deliveries, as were police officers, firefighters, and others who had to work on Thanksgiving day. Many volunteers were on hand whose sole purpose was to run around town and find all those who couldn’t go home for dinner and take them a homemade meal.

K.C. Pohtilla, volunteer coordinator for the dinner, said everyone was going above and beyond what was required of them for Bartlett’s sake.

“People are showing up to volunteer and doing a fabulous job of hanging in there,” Pohtilla said. “They’re making sure the community gets a meal, even those that didn’t know him. That was important to him.”

Pohtilla said when Jack Stiltz, Bartlett’s partner in the Thanksgiving Day endeavor and good friend, came in with the news, everyone stood still for a moment, a prayer for Bartlett was said and then everyone got to work on the dinner.

Stiltz, smiling at people coming in to eat, had a hard time mentioning Bartlett without sadness in his expression, and started talking first about the success of the dinner taking place before him, in order to control his emotions enough to speak about Bartlett.

“Keith died on me,” he said. “But he went with no pain and fast. He died doing what he wanted.”

Steven Souza, 12, who was volunteering with his family for the dinner, voiced the sentiments of what many felt for Bartlett.

“I’m thankful because of all the people who helped put this together, even the man who started and created this,” he said. “Even though he is not with us, I’m thankful that he started and created this for people and the children and grandchildren.”

Ginny Weeks, who worked with Bartlett on the dinner’s finances and bookkeeping, said it was this spirit of gratitude that marked this year’s dinner.

“It was very successful,” she said. “Volunteers did it with so much more heart and a whole lot of love for that man. I think it reflects the true spirit of the man, because of the his exuberance and spirit of giving back. There was an air of gratitude about the whole thing.”

Weeks said she hopes the community will continue on with the tradition of a community Thanksgiving day, and that it continues as a legacy for the man who dreamed and worked to provide an old fashioned Thanksgiving dinner for everyone who wanted one.