Toby Keith's son, Stelen Covel pens tribute to late further: 'my biggest champion'
Toby Keith died of stomach cancer on February 5, 2024
Toby Keith's son, Stelen Covel, penned a heartfelt tribute to his late father on Thursday, February 8, 2024.
The 26-year-old honored his father shortly after the country music icon’s death on Monday, February 5, 2024, at the age of 62 after a two and half year long battle against stomach cancer.
Taking to his official Instagram account, Covel wrote a lengthy post where he called his father as his “guiding star" and "the best mentor a man could ask for."
"You are the strongest man I have ever known. A fighter. A true titan of your industry. My guiding star. My coach. My hero," Covel wrote under a nostalgic photo of him as a child and his father in a pool, supposedly teaching him to swim.
"An embodiment of the American Spirit. You are a man whose strength, prowess, and talent could only be trumped by his ability to be a father and husband,” the caption further read.
Reflecting on the influence Keith’s music had, the note stated, “Your impact is forever stamped on the world and on millions of people, yet not one person knew you the way I did.”
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“You were my biggest champion and the guiding light in my darkest times. The best mentor a man could ask for," Covel reminisced.
"You held a passion that was greater than mountains and it radiates through every lyric and chord. In the everlasting echo from the legacy of your music, you leave me strength and faith to lean on in the silence that follows. You truly did it your way, from the starting gates to the finish line, and never apologized for it. The only thing I truly ever wanted in life was to make you proud. I promise I will continue to make you proud," the tribute stated.
"It’s not goodbye forever; it’s just goodbye for now. I love you cowboy," Covel concluded.
Stelen Covel is the youngest and only son among Keith's three children whom he shared with wife Trish Lucus. The couple wed in 1984 and had Covel, their only son in April 1997.
The singer adopted Lucus’ first daughter, Shelley shortly after the two wed and welcomed together, their first child, Krystal, in September 1985.
