In Memoriam: Frederick Critchfield Keeney

 

The TAPPI Community is saddened to learn of the passing of long time member Frederick "Fred" Critchfield Keeney recently. Keeny was born on August 14, 1922 in Staten Island, NY. The family moved to Weslaco, TX where Fred spent his elementary and high school years. He was in the class of 1944 at Texas A&M University, graduating with a chemical engineering degree. Fred was a Second Lieutenant in World War II in Europe. After the war, he met his future wife, Betty, in Seattle, WA in 1946 and was married in 1948. He earned his Ph.D. at the Institute of Pulp and Paper Chemistry in Appleton, Wis., and worked in the industry for his entire career, finally settling in Hixson, Tenn. in 1977. 

 

Many of us remember Keeny as the EVP at Knowlton Brothers in the Southern Specialty Division in 1981, then EVP at Filtration Sciences Inc. in 1983. Later he was a consultant with F.C. Keeney and Associates starting in 1987. His career in the industry started when he received his BS in chemical engineering from Texas A&M in 1947 and his PhD in chemistry from the Institute of Paper Chemistry in 1952. Beginning in 1947, Fred worked as a chemist for various companies, including Gaylord Container and Northwest Paper Co. before becoming a chemist at Weyerhaeuser in 1949, eventually becoming Technical Director there in 1955 to 1957

 

Fred Keeny was a member of the Eugene, Oregon Masonic Lodge No. 11, AF&AM, a KCCH of the Chattanooga Scottish Rite, a member of the Alhambra Shrine Highlanders, member of the York Rite, Allied Masonic Degrees, and the Royal Order of Jesters Court 39. He was also a past director of the Watertown, N.Y. Jester Court. 

 

Betty and Fred celebrated their marriage with four children, Wendy, Nancy, Rick, and Janis. To this union there were four grandchildren and two great grandchildren.