Photo: Getty Images
Krystal Keith shared a heartfelt tribute to her late father on his birthday on Monday (July 8).
Krystal posted a photo of late country legend Toby Keith at a ballpark, donning University of Oklahoma 2018 Red River Celebrity Softball Game t-shirt while holding up a sign that reads, “keep smiling.” Krystal wrote in her caption on Instagram: “Happy Birthday to our Popster. We miss him like crazy. Playin’ it sweet in heaven today.” Toby would have turned 63.
Toby “passed peacefully…surrounded by his family,” on February 5, confirmed a statement shared to his social media pages in the early morning hours on February 6. The upcoming Country Music Hall of Fame inductee died after a years-long battle with stomach cancer that he fought “with grace and courage.” Toby is also survived by his wife of nearly four decades, Tricia Lucus, daughter Shelley Covel Rowland, 44, and son Stelen Keith Covel, 27.
Krystal, who accepted her father’s honorary degree from the University of Oklahoma on his behalf earlier this year, was one of many in the country music community to pay tribute to her father after his passing. She said at that time that her father “was my hero,” and “I will forever honor him.”
Country artists will join together to honor Toby in a star-studded tribute concert in Downtown Nashville, Tennessee. Toby Keith: American Icon, supporting The Toby Keith Foundation’s OK Kids Korral and Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, will include Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Ashley McBryde, Parker McCollum, Jelly Roll, Darius Rucker, Carrie Underwood, Lainey Wilson, The War And Treaty and others. The show will take place on Monday, July 29. A two-hour television special will air on NBC on Wednesday, August 28 from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET.