A Role Model for Mother's Day

This is an article that was in a Blount County Children's Home newsletter several years ago. It was brought to my attention again when Glenda Harrill read it at the Mother's Day Service at Oak View last week. Dad bought me a copy of the service and when I listened to it I had to dig out my copy.


19 Years of Watching Them Sleep...

The day we had to lay off Ms. Dorothy Keeble at the age of 82 was the end of an era at the Children's Home. Dorothy, mother of County Commissioner, John Keeble, had worked here since 1984 as one of our overnight support staff. She worked the 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift at least three nights a week. In those 19 years, over 700 children, boys and girls, came through our doors. They would go to bed at night knowing they were safe with Ms. Dorothy watching over them. In the earlier years her nights were spent doing the children's laundry, doing bed checks, and fixing breakfast for the morning. Her breakfast didn't consist of a bowl of cold cereal, No, our Ms. Dorothy was known for her biscuits and gravy. Many times the last thing a child might say to her before they went to sleep was "could you please make biscuits and gravy in the morning?" Her blueberry muffins were better than any bakery. I dare say she matched and folded more socks in those 19 years than most mothers do in a lifetime! Ms. Dorothy was never too busy to sit and listen to a child tell her their problems during the night or comfort a new child who might be brought here in the wee hours of the morning.

In June, when I wrote her last check, I did it with tears in my eyes knowing this fine woman had given so much to so many children and how sad for those children who would not ever get the chance to let her make a difference in their lives. Thank you, Ms. Dorothy for touching my life and those of all the staff who have been here over the years.



I have several women I could tell you about who are/were good motherly role models, and wow, Mammy was a good one. I remember when this article was written and how it may not have been until then that I realized how much she was needed at the Children's Home. I know that the kids there loved her but not all of them were lovable. When we would go on vacation, we would wait until Mammy got home from work and leave as soon as she was able. One morning on the way to the beach, we were stopping for breakfast when she realized someone at the Children's Home had stolen her money. We usually had everything paid for before leaving for the beach and we cooked many meals in the house so there was not a need for a lot of money, other than the independence it affords you. I also later realized that independence was a very important reason for keeping her job at the Children's Home. Mammy was nothing if not independent.

How lucky all those kids were to have a grandmother there for them, too. She may have been the only grandmother they had.