The Rev. Grafton E. "Lindy" Keeney, former director of the Assembled Families-Swartzell Fund of the Methodist Board of Child Care, died July 9 from complications of Alzheimer's disease at a nursing home in Birmingham, Ala. He was 83.
Mr. Keeney, the son of an automobile parts manager and a bookbinder, was born in Burtonsville and raised in Southwest Baltimore.
Mr. Keeney, who was born several weeks before Charles A. Lindbergh's historic solo flight across the Atlantic from New York to Paris in 1927, was given the nickname of "Lindy," and it stuck with him for the remainder of his life.
After graduating from City College in 1945, he enlisted in the Army, where he served in Germany for two years until being discharged in 1947.
He earned a bachelor's degree in 1951 from Baylor University in Waco, Texas, and his divinity degree in 1955 from Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, Ky.
Mr. Keeney was ordained a Baptist minister in 1955 at Fulton Baptist Church in Baltimore, which had been the church of his youth.
He pastored the Hebron Baptist Church in Afton, Va., before returning to Baltimore in 1960 to pastor Immanuel Baptist Church at Frankford Avenue and Sinclair Lane.
After earning a master's degree in social work from the University of Maryland School of Social Work in 1969, Mr. Keeney joined the Methodist Board of Child Care, where he was director of the Assembled Families-Swartzell Fund.
He retired in 1987.
The former Northwest Baltimore resident, who moved to Birmingham in 2004, was an avid Baylor University sports fan and had been a fan of the old Baltimore Colts.
A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Baptist Church of the Covenant in Birmingham, Ala.
Surviving are his wife of 59 years, the former Catherine Krause; five sons, Brian Keeney of Baltimore, Dr. Scott Keeney of New York City, Michael Keeney of Lorena, Texas, Donald Keeney of Waco and Robert Keeney of Suwanee, Ga.; two sisters, Pat Grim of Ellicott City and Jane Warner of Bel Air; and nine grandchildren.