Keeler Family History & Genealogy

Myra Burbridge (Keller) Keeler of Los Angeles, California United States was born on October 16, 1885 in Lexington, MO, and died at age 88 years old on December 5, 1973 in Los Angeles, CA.

Lorraine Myrtle Bernice Hallebrot was known and admired as being an amazing, loyal and loving Christian, wife, mother, grandmother, daughter, sister, aunt and friend. She is highly noted as being a person everybody came to for comfort and to relieve their fears and life stresses. She was known for listening quietly for as long as you needed to share your stories. She rarely pushed advice. Rather she questioned all of your thoughts and feelings until you figured out the right answers for yourself. Her consistent advice was to always ask yourself one question. "What would Jesus do"? Then she would look up examples of how Jesus handled similar issues to what you were having. She'd write them down and send the Bible verses with you recommending you read it and follow your curiosity to the next verses because the Bible is the " Living Word" of God and while reading it, it will guide you to what God wants you to know. Instinctively, you will be guided to the answers He wants you to have. Listening to His guidance will get you through you problems best. All who confided in Lori would leave with a sense of peace and love and the feeling of being truly heard. She was a uniquely amazing woman who noted herself as being shy, simple and a happy, devoted and loving servant of God, nothing more. She was the ideal portrait of humble. She died of liver cancer in 2017 in her living room where family kept her company 24 hrs, 7 days a week for the last weeks of her life. Her 2 unbaptized grandchildren were baptized at her bedside. All the others had been baptized. She is noted as regretting that everybody will be sad as she passes but that she was excited because she finally gets to meet her best friend, councilor and teacher "Jesus Christ" face to face and see her loved ones who had passed away before her. She compared it to being better than the dream vacation of a life time because it never ends. She asked all of her grandchildren if they believe and accept that Jesus is their Lord and Savior. They all expressed they do. Then she prayed and told Jesus that if He promised her that he would take better care of her family than she did, she was ready to go to Heaven. She told her daughter that Jesus ensured her He would, so she was looking forward to passing on. Still today, her children and Grandchildrn express that they've known that many of the blessings they receive today are because of the deal she made with Jesus. She is also noted as NEVER voicing a complaint of pain or discontent in her last week's. She even rejected an increase of Morphin saying she didn't want to get addicted. This was funny to those offering it and representative of her trying to do what she thought was right all the way up to her last hour. The mortuary did a great job making her look beautiful. However, she was in make-up and looking fancy. The comments after the funeral were that she looked great but her natural, no make-up natural beauty was so much of who she was that they didn't see her ( her spirit) in her body behind the make-up and fancy hair-do. That was seen as a good thing. Because everybody felt that she really wasn't there anymore and the vessel she resided in couldn't hold her beautiful spirit. They felt deep within that she was now with Jesus and had graduated "Life" as a top student/servant/ child of God. She is loved and missed by so many who are still talking about her many years later. And her spirit lives on by the ever-present advice whispering in people's ears to remember to ask yourself, "What would Jesus do", then do that as problems arise and remember to thank him as he leads you through life. God gave all those Lori knew a gift when she entered this world. And her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren to come for generations will benefit from the servant of God know to us all as Lorraine Myrtle Bernice Hallebrot Keeler. May God continue His Blessings through her lineage. ✝️

Ruby Keeler Born August 25, 1909 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada Died February 28, 1993 in Rancho Mirage, California, USA (cancer) Birth Name Ethel Hilda Keeler Height 5' 2" (1.57 m) Mini Bio (1) Ruby Keeler started as a dancer on Broadway. After her marriage to Al Jolson she moved to Hollywood and become a star in Warners musicals opposite Dick Powell. After her divorce from Jolson she retired for almost 30 years, until she appeared in "No No Nanette" on Broadway in 1971 under the direction of Busby Berkeley. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Stephan Eichenberg Spouse (2) John Homer Lowe (29 October 1941 - 1969) ( his death) ( 4 children) Al Jolson (21 September 1928 - 26 December 1939) ( divorced) ( 1 child) She returned to Broadway in 1971, starring in "No No, Nanette", appearing in a run of 861 performances. Her fellow dancer from fifty or so years earlier, Patsy Kelly, was also in the cast. Although she had been married to Al Jolson she forbade the use of her name in the film of Jolson's life, The Jolson Story (1946). Portrayed in that film by Evelyn Keyes, Keeler is referred to as "Julie Benson.". Keeler, who was Catholic of mostly Irish descent and husband Al Jolson, who was Jewish, could not conceive a child, so they adopted a baby boy who was half-Irish and half-Jewish. After she divorced Jolson, she had four children with her second husband. Her adopted son, Al Jolson Jr., was a contented member of her new family. He later changed his name to Peter. When 40-year-old Al Jolson, her future husband, first met her at Texas Guinan's El Fey Club in New York City one night in 1926, she was a 16-year-old dancer in the chorus line. He married her two years later, when she was 18. Broadway columnist Mark Hellinger, later to become a movie producer, accompanied Keeler and Al Jolson on their honeymoon, to chronicle the event for the local tabloid, the New York Daily News. Keeler began appearing as a singer and dancer in nightclubs when she was around 14 years old, after dropping out of the sixth grade at Catholic school. She would work at two or three clubs a night, making a minimum of $150 a week. Her iceman father had costly medical problems, and she became her family's breadwinner. When she was a chorus girl in New York City, Ruby was looked after and protected by a gangster named Johnny Irish. An associate of speakeasy owner and bootlegger Owney Madden, who owned the world-famous Cotton Club in Harlem, and an ally of notorious gangster Dutch Schultz, Irish ran Schultz's nightspots for him. Irish reportedly had no romantic interest in Keeler himself but watched over her because she was very young, somewhat naive and also of Irish descent, like himself. When Al Jolson decided to marry Keeler, he went to Irish to tell him of his intentions. Irish allegedly warned Jolson that if he ever mistreated her he would pay for the transgression with his life. The eldest of three daughters of Nova Scotian emigrants Ralph Hector Keeler and Eleanora "Nellie" Lahey, Ruby Keeler's parents were poor but managed to pay for her dancing lessons. Ruby was the elder sister of Gertrude Keeler and Helen Keeler and the aunt of child actors Joey D. Vieira and Ken Weatherwax (the latter best-known for playing "Pugsley Addams" in The Addams Family (1964)). Received a standing ovation at The 51st Annual Academy Awards (1979) when she appeared to co-present the Oscar for the Best Song. She was overwhelmed with emotion. When she enrolled in Jack Blue's dancing school on West 54th Street in Manhattan at eleven, one of her classmates was Patsy Kelly. Keeler walked out on the play "Hold on to Your Hat" when husband Al Jolson persisted in making ad-lib references to their marital difficulties during rehearsals. Keeler ended her RKO contract when the studio billed Anne Shirley over her in "Mother Carey's Chickens". In her heyday, with carefully counted slow motion, she was declared the world's fastest "tapper". Got into a chorus line of a Broadway show at 14 and then danced in nightclubs, speakeasies and on stage. Inducted into the International Tap Dance Hall of Fame in 2019. A street in Burbank, California is named for her. Was paired with Dick Powell in seven films at Warner Brothers: 42nd Street (1933), Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933), Footlight Parade (1933), Dames (1934), Flirtation Walk (1934), Shipmates Forever (1935), and Colleen (1936). Personal Quotes (7) Al Jolson was my first husband. He always used to boast that he was spoiling me for any man who might come after him. I think Al sensed that it wasn't easy for me being married to an American institution . . . Was he right about spoiling me? I'm sorry. I couldn't possibly say. I couldn't be that indiscreet. [on her stardom in the 1930s Warner Bros. musicals] It's really amazing. I couldn't act. I had that terrible singing voice, and now I can see I wasn't the greatest tap dancer in the world, either. [on why she was not portrayed in 'The Jolson Story'] I don't like him. I don't want my children to grow up someday and maybe see the picture and know I was married to a man like that. [on her childhood ballet teacher Helen Guest] We were very poor, and I think she gave me the lessons for nothing. Dancing in speakeasies was a job, and none of us knew for sure who were gangsters. No one told us, so how could we know? My mother used to come and take me home. We thought nothing of walking home together at two in the morning. How different New York was then! [on her early success] I was all personality and no talent. I could do a few dance routines, but I didn't have a voice. I always dreaded the part when I had to sing back to Dick (Dick Powell).

Ronald G Keeler of Oakdale, Stanislaus County, CA was born on February 5, 1926, and died at age 76 years old on February 9, 2002.

Chester H Keeler of Chelsea, Suffolk County, MA was born on August 22, 1917, and died at age 70 years old on September 19, 1987. Chester Keeler was buried at Massachusetts National Cemetery Section 9 Site 557 Off Connery Avenue, in Bourne.

Chester O Keeler of Saginaw, Saginaw County, MI was born on October 14, 1916, and died at age 82 years old on August 22, 1999.

Stewart E Keeler of East Haven, New Haven County, CT was born on November 8, 1911, and died at age 81 years old on September 23, 1993.

Bernard J Keeler of Toledo, Lucas County, OH was born on June 8, 1920, and died at age 86 years old on June 17, 2006.

Vincent Ray Keeler Jr of Little Elm, Denton County, Texas was born on January 13, 1951, and died at age 60 years old on April 17, 2011.

Royce T Keeler of Kings County, New York United States was born on April 8, 1911, and died at age 63 years old on August 28, 1974. Royce Keeler was buried at Long Island National Cemetery Section X Site 2560B 2040 Wellwood Avenue, in Farmingdale.

Fincher B Keeler of Clarksdale, Coahoma County, Mississippi was born on August 26, 1915, and died at age 69 years old in February 1985.

Raymond C Keeler of Wheat Ridge, Jefferson County, CO was born on June 25, 1901, and died at age 88 years old on September 24, 1989.

Raymond J Keeler of Chicago, Cook County, Illinois was born on July 4, 1907, and died at age 76 years old in October 1983.

Raymond W Keeler of Lanesboro, Berkshire County, MA was born on September 21, 1913, and died at age 84 years old on September 17, 1998.

Arthur D Keeler of Rochester, Monroe County, NY was born on September 4, 1922 in British North America or Canada or Labrador or Newfoundland, and died at age 88 years old on November 11, 2010.

Arthur J Keeler of Cresskill, Bergen County, NJ was born on October 7, 1918, and died at age 74 years old on July 12, 1993.

Roger L Keeler of Dalton, Lackawanna County, PA was born on September 24, 1924, and died at age 71 years old on November 17, 1995.

Harold Warren Keeler of Folsom, Sacramento County, CA was born on October 8, 1920, and died at age 85 years old on May 7, 2006.

Harold O Keeler of Wichita, Sedgwick County, Kansas was born on April 23, 1907, and died at age 78 years old in June 1985.

Edwin J Keeler of Clayton, Jefferson County, NY was born on August 14, 1905, and died at age 70 years old in December 1975.