Today is a very special day for a very special and fascinating woman of many accomplishments and remarkable stories, Mrs. Mike Keagy, as she turns 103.
Born on May 27, 1922 in Richardson, TX, Marilyn (Mike) Keagy was raised in the area where her family came to settle during the Civil War.
“My family rode in the place that I lived. I was an only child and I was spoiled rotten,” she smiled. “I had a wonderful mother and father.”
After graduating from high school, she attended college and met Bob Keagy and the two would eventually get married. But one of the most horrific and devasting events in United States history would happen in 1941: the attack on Pearl Harbor.
“I remember that day well. We had been to church and someone told us to turn the radio on, and we really thought they were going to bomb us right there. It was really scary, just a bad time.”
It was at that point where both Bob and Mike’s lives were about to change.
“We were together a year and Bob was going to be drafted, so he joined the Navy, but in the meantime he worked for Douglas Aircraft. Once he joined the Navy, they sent us to Tucson, Arizona and we were out there for training. I got pregnant while we were there, and the doctor told me that I would need to stay there until I had the baby. Well, we went from Tucson to Schenectady, New York, so I didn’t stay! I had twins, Joan and Jean, and they were a couple of years old and we went back to Dallas and my husband got a job with Phillips out at Borger.”
“We were there for about a year, but we were unhappy and the guy he worked for knew he was unhappy, so he got a job with Cabot and my husband worked there for years and years, retiring when he was 62.”
Mike and her husband would move to Guymon, Oklahoma, eventually making their way to Pampa, and at this point the Keagy family had grown, with Mike having a son and was now pregnant with her fourth child.
It was after Bob’s retirement when Mike and her husband took the opportunity that many of us can only dream of: traveling across the world. They would visit 19 different countries altogether, with Ireland being her favorite and Switzerland being his favorite. She recalls during their trip to Ireland, tensions were high between the Emerald Isle and the UK and it wasn’t uncommon for some towns to not allow in foreigners.
Pampa would become their permanent home where they would build their house and live for more than 60 years. During her time here, Mike would get involved in many community organizations and clubs, actually serving as the very first female president of the Chamber of Commerce. She was a board member and president of the Gray-Roberts Unit of the American Cancer Society, chairman of the board for the American Red Cross, and was one of the original organizers of the Pampa chapter of the Americans With Disabilities Act in 1982. She also volunteered countless hours to United Way and Pampa Meals on Wheels and was an active volunteer with the hospital auxiliary before 1972, as well as being an active member at the First United Methodist Church.
With her kids fully grown and having left the nest, Mike would take on a new business endeavor and over the next 45 years, she would be known as one of Pampa’s best real estate agents in the region.
“I got into real estate when I was 50. I got me a license and my husband was very helpful with that. We had a building out on Hobart Street and it was Quentin Williams Realtors, which is where I had started. I had a partner, Judy Edwards, and we worked together for years. We had so many wonderful people that worked for us. I worked until I was 95.”
Through the many clients she had over the years, those clients would become friends, and many of those friends would become like family to Mike, always keeping in touch throughout the years.
“They’ve all been like family, and I’ve been very, very blessed.”
Although she has no big plans for today, she would certainly love for her family and close friends to come by or give her a ring on this special day. Reflecting on her time on this earth, Mike’s sentiment is simple:
“I’ve had a wonderful life, God has been good to me.”
We at The Pampa News wish Mrs. Keagy a very happy birthday and we hope your day is just as wonderful as you are!
