LoRee Keough

is honored with a Medium Paver from Patricia Bernhard.

LoRee was born in 1893 in Hick City, Missouri, but moved to Kansas as a young girl. In 1912 she graduated from Fort Hays State College with a B.A. in languages. She taught in Kansas high schools until 1914 when she went to Germany to study at the University of Marburg. At the start of World War I in Europe, she returned to Kansas to become principal of Hill City High School. In 1916 she went to the University of Wisconsin for her Master's degree in Home Economics (Institutional Management).

She became head of the Home Economics Department at Fort Hays in 1918, and that same year was placed on the Red Cross Reserve list as a dietitian. In 1919, while still retaining her position at Fort Hays, she toured the state lecturing to high schools and Mother's Clubs for the Kansas State Health Department.

She married Dr. W.J. Keough in 1923. After her three children were born, she taught part-time at Mount Carmel Academy and had a radio show, "Hostess School of the Air," on KFH. In 1935, she was appointed Director of Professional Projects for Roosevelt's WPA for the 4th District. Later, she also headed the school lunch project for the entire state of Kansas. When WPA closed, she retired to being a "homemaker."

Two of her children, William Jr. and Patricia, graduated from Wichita State University. Her third child, Virginia (known as Mike), spent two years at Wichita State.

September 5, 1998