Roscoe C. Keeney, Jr's
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Roscoe
C. Keeney, Jr.
Roscoe C. Keeney Jr., 89, formerly of Witcher, died March 8, 2012. Fiddle & Frame is in charge of the pending memorial service.  Roscoe C. Keeney, Jr.
Roscoe C. Keeney, Jr., 89, passed
away March 8, 2012. Born September 13, 1922, in
Witcher, he was preceded in death by his parents,
Roscoe C. Keeney, Sr., and Maggie Paxton Keeney;
four sisters, Julia Arthur, Frances Kilburn, Alma
Rose and Margaret Kapanowski; and three brothers,
Nick B. Keeney II, Calvin C. Keeney and William H.
Keeney Sr. He is survived by 21 living nieces and
nephews.
Roscoe's early education included the one-room Witcher School, Belle Elementary, Belle Junior High School and Malden High School, where he graduated in 1939. Roscoe worked at DuPont Plant in Belle before being called into the U.S. Army and assigned to the 99th Infantry Division. He was transferred into personnel shortly before the 99th was almost obliterated in the Battle of the Bulge. Returning home to family hardships, Roscoe became an office employee at Kelley's Creek Colliery Company in Ward. After circumstances changed, he entered Alderson-Broaddus College in Philippi, graduating magna cum laude in 1948. Following graduation, he became Staff Director of Youth Work for the West Virginia Baptist Convention, with an office in Parkersburg. Receiving his M.A. in political science from WVU in 1952, he opted for working as a recruiter for Alderson-Broaddus, and began teaching at Wallace High School, Harrison County. From the fall of 1952 to 1955 he taught science and civics at Logan Junior High School, inspired by teaching top ability students. Living on the top floor of the Baptist parsonage, he served as volunteer youth director at First Baptist Church. Returning to Witcher, he was employed to chair the Social Studies Department at the newly built Cedar Grove High School in 1955. He taught at CGHS until the school consolidated with East Bank High School in 1970, except for a two-year leave of absence to serve as president of the West Virginia Association of Classroom Teachers. In the fall of 1970, he moved across the river to East Bank High School, becoming social studies chairman after one semester. At both high schools he taught journalism and supervised school publications; sponsored an active HI-Y Club; and sponsored the UN Club, which included participation in the annual WVHSUN Model Meetings and an annual trip to New York to visit the UN, meet and interview UN representatives from all over the world, plus attend outstanding Broadway and Radio City plays and concerts. With students from Welch to Parkersburg, Roscoe helped more than 1,000 West Virginia high school students get their first taste of international relations and New York, N.Y. Teacher organizations opened up a world of other opportunities, beginning with three years of service as president of the county organization; four years as vice president and president of the West Virginia Association of Classroom Teachers; vice president and treasurer of the West Virginia Education Association; West Virginia member of the Board of Directors; and International Relations Chairman of the National Education Association, representing U.S. teachers in educational gatherings in Ottawa and Calgary, Canada, Jakarta, Indonesia, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Israel, Montreaux, Switzerland and Brasilia, Brazil, with side visits to Thailand, Chile, Panama and other countries. Retiring early from teaching, Roscoe answered a long delayed call to ministry. In 1984 he was ordained as a Baptist minister by the Cedar Grove Baptist Church. The next year he was called to serve as pastor of the Baptist Church in Handley, where he remained until 1990. "Retiring" again to Governor's Court near the West Virginia State Capitol, he served as associate and interim pastor at Kanawha City Baptist Church. His retirement continued to present challenges and temptations. Kanawha County retired educators called on him to serve three terms as president. For six years he served as president, and for another five years as archivist for the West Virginia Baptist Historical Society, headquartered in Parchment Valley. He authored a history of the WVBHS; a history of the West Virginia Baptist Camp in Cowen; and an exhaustive history of the Kanawha Valley Association, including profiles of all the member churches and their ministers since 1873. His "retirement" years included substitute pastoring; serving as vice president of the WVB Historical Society; president of the Kanawha Association of Retired Educators; Legislative Chairman and chief lobbyist for the West Virginia Association of Retired School Employees; chairman of the Reorganization Task Force for WVARSE; and WVARSE president-elect. But the biggest obsession in Roscoe's life was genealogy. Blessed by a mother and father with amazing memories, Roscoe published 2,597 KEENEY RELATIVES in 1978, plus a quarterly KEENEY UPDATE, which he published until stricken by illness in 2006. He published PAXTONS FROM WEST VIRGINIA in 1975, and completely revised it in 1999 with WEST VIRGINIA PAXTONS. He also published 6,474 SLACK RELATIVES in 1984. His research and books were all prepared without the benefit of the computer age. A memorial service is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday, March 17, at Kanawha City Baptist Church with Pastor Ron McClung officiating. Interment will be private. Visitation will be one hour prior to the service at the church. Fiddle & Frame Funeral Home, Belle, is in charge of arrangements. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Roscoe C. Keeney Scholarship Fund, Alderson-Broaddus College, Philippi, WV 26416; or Kanawha Hospice Care, Inc., 1606 Kanawha Blvd. W., Charleston, WV 25387.
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