RUSSELL W. KEENEY
Past HIgh Priest 1925
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Russell Watson Keeney was born in Pittsfield, Pike County, Illinois, Dec. 29, 1897, the son of Walter Franklin Keeney and Kittie Ann Watson. After completing his preliminary education at the public schools in Naperville, he attended evening classes at De Paul University and was graduated with an LL.B. degree in 1919 and an LL.M. degree in 1921. He was associated with Joseph Reuss, a Naperville attorney in the practice of law until 1926. He then joined the law firm of Reed, Knoch & Keeney, Naperville, and subsequently was a member of the successor firm of Reed & Keeney from 1930 until his election as circuit judge of the 16th judicial District in 1953. He filled various public offices, beginning in 1919 as clerk of Lisle Township, DuPage County, Illinois, and from 1922 to 1926 as justice of the peace there. Appointed assistant state's attorney for DuPage County in 1926, he served in that office until 1936 and simultaneously was first assistant state's attorney in the county and acting state's attorney. In 1936 he became special assistant attorney general for DuPage County and in that year was elected state's attorney for the county. He filled the latter office until 1940 when he was elected Judge of the County Court of DuPage County to fill an unexpired term, and he was reelected to that bench in 1942, 1946, and 1950. Elected judge of the 16th Judicial Circuit of Illinois in 1953, he remained on that bench for three years, resigning upon his election in 1956 to the 14th Illinois District of the U.S. Congress, where he served until his death. In the U.S. Congress he served on the House judiciary committee. Among his important achievements in Congress was the introduction of an Amendment to the Civil Rights Bill of 1957. The amendment, granting the right of a trial by jury to persons brought into court for violations under the bill, was defeated in the House but was upheld in the U.S. Senate and was included in the bill when it was signed by President Dwight Eisenhower. In civic affairs he was a supporter of the Family Service Association of DuPage County, serving on its executive committee during 1951-53 and as vice-president of the organization from 1953 until his death. From 1946 to 1957 he was president of the DuPage County Tuberculosis Association. During the First World War he served as a private in the Student Army Training Corps unit at De Paul University. He was a life member of the Loyal Order of Moose, honorary member of the Du Page Board of Realtors and Kiwanis Club of Wheaton, and member of the American, Illinois State, and Du Page County bar associations, Illinois Circuit and Superior Judges Association, State's Attorneys Association of Illinois, Illinois County and Probate Judges Association (pres.1947-48), DuPage County Farm Bureau, Wheaton Chamber of Commerce, Izaak Walton League, the Masonic order 32d degree Scottish Rite, Shriner, Knight Templar and the Order of the Eastern Star, BPOE, IOOF, Delta Theta Phi, the American Legion, and the Forty and Eight. Keeney was married twice: in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, Dec. 29, 1926, to Jane Perrier Perkins,  and had a daughter, Jacqueline, and in Morris, Illinois, Nov. 18, 1950 to Marge La Schiavo Sansone. He was raised a Master Mason November 12, 1919 in Euclid Lodge. He was also a member of Euclid Chapter No. 13, Royal Arch Masons and served as High Priest in 1925. He died in Bethesda, Montgomery County, Maryland January 11, 1958 and was buried in the Naperville Cemetery.