Sarah Lou C. W. Keeler
Published 12:00 am Thursday, February 14, 2008
Sarah Lou Carroll Wyborny Keeler of Montgomery, born into this world December 19, 1918, passed on to be with the Lord January 11, 2008.
She is survived by one son, Charles A. Wyborny, one sister Minnie Remund, one niece, and five nephews.
She was preceded in death by husbands, Les C. Wyborny and Gilbert J. Keeler.
She graduated from Ariton High School.
She literally left the rural cotton fields of southeast Alabama, picking cotton by hand, to enter the nursing field.
She graduated from the now closed Frazier Ellis Nursing School of Dothan and went on to become a registered nurse.
Mrs. Keeler’s professional career consisted of 35-plus years of nursing duties.
Her work life spanned the USA from Alabama to Washington Sate and Kansas to South Dakota.
Her duties consisted of a broad range from private duty nurse, hospital floor nurse, charge nurse, surgical nurse, rural health nurse and hospital administrator.
She also presented workshops in her areas of public health and participated in local Red Cross workshops.
She was a member of Chestnut Grove UMC, Coffee County, she was also a long time member of the Order of the Eastern Star and local chapter OES #459.
She had two favorite types of nursing.
The first was rural health and the senior citizens when she was younger in the 1960’s and 1970’s.
At that time, when time spent with the patient was more important than work units.
She read and wrote letters and helped write checks for those that couldn’t when literacy among country folks was much lower that it is today.
She listened to aches, pains, and complaints and talked about families.
Her other favorite was obstetrics where she said &uot;that was where life was brought into this world.&uot;
She had many humorous memories of her nursing career.
One was during the 1960’s when there were the mass immunizations.
The little kids hated nurses and their shots.
They would be lined up for her, all &uot;scrunched&uot; up and waiting for the shot and she would have already given it.
She could charm the worst child and was the &uot;best shot giver&uot; as can be attested to by the 50 and older adults of Coffee and Pike Counties in Alabama.
She loved the little kids.
As you read this she is already lining up the kids in heaven giving shots, of that we are sure!
Visitation for Mrs. Keeler was held at Dillard Funeral Home in Troy on Wednesday, January 16, 2008 from 5 to 8 p.m.
Services were held at St. John Baptist Church on Thursday, January 17, 2008 at 3 p.m. with the Rev. Mack King officiating. Burial followed at St. John Cemetery.
Pallbearers were Randolph Ziglar, Johnny Ziglar, Dunn Carroll, Mahlon McVay, Ray Stinson, and Lawrence Creel.
Honorary pallbearers will be the Order of the Eastern Star Chapter # 459 of Troy.