Obituary: Leroy Keese

Obituary

Leroy Keese, 1937-2018

Leroy Keese died on Jan. 11, 2018, after fighting a courageous battle with Merkel Cell Carcinoma. He was born on Aug. 16, 1937, in Medina Texas, and moved to Brady, Texas, in 1965.

He graduated from Texas A&M University in 1961 with a degree in animal science.

Keese met his wife, Jo, in Medina, and they were married for 56 years. He was a loving father to his children, son Darrell and his wife Teresa of Brady, and daughter Nancy of Seabrook, Texas. He was blessed with two grandchildren, Devin and Kamry. He is also survived by his brother, Earl Keese and wife Nancy of Hilton Head, S.C.

After graduating from Texas A&M University, Keese worked for U.S. Testing Laboratories in Philadelphia. He set up their lab facilities to do testing of wool and mohair samples and was instrumental in starting wool testing for carpets for the Northeast carpet mills.

In less than a year, the couple moved back to Texas and Keese began his work in the wool and mohair buying trade under Hollis Blackwell in Kerrville, Texas. It was not long before he was noticed for his eye for the fiber, and he was hired by the Forte’, Dupee, Sawyer Company of Boston and moved to Brady. He was a wool and mohair buyer and supervised wool scouring at the Roddie Wool Scouring plant. He was a buyer for Forte’ for 38 years, and he was credited with buying more than 200 million pounds of wool and mohair during that time.

He co-shared the first ever American Sheep Industry Wool Excellence Award in 2007 for his contributions to the American wool Industry.