KEEFE, Jeane

Arizona Republic (Phoenix AZ) Wednesday, November 23, 2011 Jeane White Keefe, a retired Arizona state worker and a Phoenix resident for more than 58 years, died Sunday (Nov 20). She was 90. Mrs Keefe was born in Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, to Charlie and Florence White. Mrs Keefe was the eldest of their three children. All preceded her in death. After residing in Northern Iowa for a number of years, she moved with her family to Ottumwa, Iowa (in Wapello County), where she began her senior year of high school. There she met Thomas E Keefe, whom she married in 1944 while he was serving in the U.S. Army Air Forces. Following World War II, the couple moved to Omaha and then to Wickenburg, Ariz., to work on the newspaper owned in that town by Mr Keefe's uncle, John H McCarroll. However, the couple left the state in 1949 for Ohio, following the death of Mr Keefe's father. They returned in 1953 to reside permanently in Phoenix. Mr Keefe died in 1983. After all her children were enrolled in elementary school, Mrs Keefe took a position with the Arizona Department of Economic Security (DES), where she worked in Jobs Service. She remained employed with DES until the mid-1980s, when she retired. Over the next several years, Mrs Keefe served as a volunteer in a number of capacities, including in the surgical recovery room at Phoenix Baptist Hospital. She is survived by her three children: Mary Groom and Tom E Keefe, both of Phoenix; and Patrick Keefe of Gaithersburg, Md. She also had six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Services will be at 10am Friday, Nov 25, at St Jerome's Catholic Church, 10815 N 35th Ave., Phoenix.