Maureen Keating
On May 24, 2012 Maureen Camilla Heath Keating went peacefully to be with her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ from her home at 2021 Henry Road, Crystal Springs.
A private memorial service will be held Sunday at the home of Margaret Druetta.
She is survived by her husband of almost 58 years, James Lindley Keating. She was a member of the Crystal Springs First Baptist Church.
Reen, an only child, was born to Christopher Emmett and Elizabeth Colleen Ishmael Heath on 18 May 1921 at Goose Creek, TX (now Baytown). Reen attended schools all over TX because of her Father’s employment with the oil tool business. She graduated from Byrd High School in Shreveport, LA, and in 1942 received her college degree in Sociology from Texas Woman’s University. After graduation she worked with Shell Oil Company, San Antonio hospital and the Texas Child Welfare System in Tyler before attending the University of Chicago via the TX welfare program for graduate credits in social work. After completing this assignment she was assigned to the Child Welfare program at Sweetwater, TX for the next six years.
In 1952 she obtained a Direct Commission as a First Lieutenant in the US Air Force. She served until 1958 when she exited the Air Force as a Captain. It was during an overseas tour to Japan in 1953 just as the Korean War was ending that she met and married her husband, 2nd Lieutenant James L. Keating, at Johnson Air Base in the Base Chapel at 0730 in the morning. Jim took much pleasure in describing Reen as the prettiest girl with the most vivacious personality he had ever met. Also, he regarded Reen as the most appreciative person with the greatest curiosity in others that he has known. She was truly his best friend.
Reen taught elementary and secondary level classes at various towns in Texas, Arizona and Puerto Rico. She received a Masters’ Degree in education from the Univ. of Arizona and additional graduate hours at North Texas State Univ. Her last 20 plus years of teaching were at the Tarrant County College in Fort Worth where she served as Reading and Sociology professor, Counselor and Testing Center coordinator until retirement in 1996. She and her husband then moved to Mississippi for two years and then to Baptist Memorials Retirement Center at San Angelo, TX for eight years. In February 2010 they returned to the family farm at Crystal Springs, MS. In San Angelo she was very active in the First Baptist Church Music Department, choir and assisted in the office at FBC and Baptist Memorials. Her fondest memories were of teaching at Tarrant County College and her Air Force assignments. She loved people and being of service where ever she was. Reen placed at the top of the list being led by the Holy Spirit to meet, and a year later, marry her husband 10,000 miles from her Texas home.