OXFORD, Miss. – John T. Keeton Jr. of Grenada remembers the day he went to the late Dean Robert Farley at the University of Mississippi School of Law and asked to be admitted.
Certainly not a traditional law school student in
1952, Keeton arrived on campus with a wife and three young
children in tow.
“Dean Farley kindly accepted me when he could have
chosen a younger student in my place,” said Keeton,
an attorney and former state senator, who also has
been instrumental in the regional health care
field. “I have felt indebted to him and the
university for letting me fulfill my dream of
earning a law degree.”
Generations of students are certain to share the
same sentiments about Keeton and his wife,
Margaret. Their three previous gifts to academics
and athletics total some $1.5 million, and they
have announced a gift of 1,324 acres of timberland
located primarily in Grenada County. Half of the
gift is to benefit Ole Miss, with the remainder
designated for other local charitable
organizations.
“John and Margaret Keeton have been building a
remarkable legacy over many years, contributing
time and resources to their immediate community, as
well as to the larger community that encompasses
the state and beyond,” said Chancellor Robert
Khayat. “The Keetons have invested in the life of
the University of Mississippi and in the lives of
young people with their generous gifts, and we are
profoundly grateful. This new gift of land
demonstrates their unwavering commitment to
strengthening this university and providing
opportunities for others.”
The gift is part of the university’s MomentUM
campaign, a four-year initiative to raise $200
million. The campaign, which ends in December 2008,
already has raised more than $160 million for
scholarships, graduate fellowships, faculty
support, a basketball practice facility,
residential colleges and a new law school on the
Oxford campus. Also in the plan is a cancer center
at the UM Medical Center in Jackson.
Plans for the land include some acreage being held
for long-term investment purposes, as well as
acreage being sold as financially beneficial
opportunities arise, said UM Foundation President
and Chief Executive Officer Wendell Weakley.
“John and Margaret Keeton are great Ole Miss people
with a keen understanding of the need for academic
and athletic financial support,” Weakley said.
“Their gift of timberland will benefit Ole Miss
students for generations to come. The highlight of
my time thus far with the foundation has been
getting to know our loyal alumni and friends, and
it has been truly enjoyable to work with the
Keetons.”
The Keetons have divided their gifts between
academics and athletics, as well as supported an
array of special projects at the university. An
enthusiastic football fan, John Keeton said the
couple considers needs all over campus.
“We appreciate what the university is doing: providing a
reasonably priced, high-quality education,” he said. “We
want to do some good for the children of Mississippi, the
children of the world.”
Margaret Keeton agreed, saying that “Ole Miss is a good
investment” for young people and for donors. The couple has
provided gifts through charitable unitrusts, which provide
the donors’ lifetime income from these assets. Such assets
are managed by, and will benefit, the university – the
impact of which is felt throughout the university.
“A gift to athletics earlier this year from the Keetons has
helped move forward our basketball practice facility. The
impact of their most recent gift of land will have a
tremendous impact of both academics and athletics,” said
Athletics Director Pete Boone, who also grew up in Grenada.
“Mr. and Mrs. Keeton are great friends to Ole Miss and to
me, personally. The Keetons have been an integral part of
my life since birth. They have always been generous to
worthwhile community endeavors.”
John Keeton began his undergraduate degree in 1941,
and was a roommate of Grenada native William
Winter, an attorney who went on to become governor
of Mississippi. Keeton’s college days were
interrupted when he served in the U.S. Army Air
Corps during World War II. He returned to the
university, completing his degree in 1947, the same
year he sat on a bench in the Grove and proposed to
Margaret Green, a fellow student he had known since
childhood. They married that year.
His dream to attend law school, however, faded when
his father died and Keeton had to join his mother
in operating the family’s dry goods store in
Grenada. The family sold the store in 1952, and he
made his way back to the university to earn a law
degree. The Keetons settled in their hometown to
establish a private law practice. After their three
children were grown, Margaret Keeton completed her
UM degree in social work.
At 29, John Keeton became the youngest Grenada
County Chamber of Commerce president ever elected,
and he and his wife have served in numerous
leadership roles and remain active members of First
Baptist Church of Grenada. John Keeton was elected
to the Mississippi Senate for three terms,
beginning in 1983. He retired in 1990 from his law
firm he founded, Keeton & Embry.
The attorney’s decades of service on the boards of
both the Memphis-based Baptist Memorial Health Care
Corp. and Baptist Memorial Health Care Foundation
have impacted regional health care services, and he
also provided leadership on Baptist Memorial Health
Care Corp.’s individual hospital boards in Oxford
and Columbus. The Keetons’ philanthropic gifts also
support the work of the Baptist Memorial Health
Care Foundation.
The Keetons have one living son, Roy Keeton of
Chattanooga, Tenn., and four grandchildren. Two of
their grown sons, John T. Keeton III and Hal
Keeton, have passed away. All three of their
children attended the university.
For more information on giving to Ole Miss, go to
http://www.olemiss.edu/giving/.