Longtime math teacher at FCHS leaves many memories to cherish

by Wanda Combs
Editor

A teacher with a passion for learning and high expectations for his students, D.J. Keith touched thousands of lives during his career. As his family and friends were reminded this week, his legacy will live on.
A funeral service for Keith, who passed away November 25, 2009, was held Saturday at Floyd County High School, where he taught for almost four decades. On Friday night, friends came to give their condolences to the family. They stood in lines, winding in serpentined fashion in the school lobby. Principal Barry Hollandsworth estimated over 2,000 people attended the visitation, held in the school auditorium. D.J.’s wife Janet was told many did not sign the guest book; some came and could not stand in line over three hours and sent messages by others. Kathy Walters, who has MS, was one of those in line Friday night. She had named her son, Randy Keith Walters, in honor of the teachers.
The weekend of remembrances for Keith was a time to reflect on his career as a teacher, a farmer, a Civil War historian, and husband, father and grandfather.
Devoted to his family, he always pointed to the close relationship he shared with his wife of 43 years. Janet, too, was a longtime teacher, who with her husband had just retired from the profession. The fact that they shared so many things and worked alongside each other, at school and on the farm, also contributed to their bond. In a 2005 interview with Morgan Cain for The Floyd Press, D.J. told Cain, a former student, he could never accomplish everything without his wife, whom he called his “best friend.” He said they were a “team” in all things and added, “At times, she drives a tractor (and better than most men, at that), and I often cook meals. We just work as a team to help each other whenever it’s needed.”
D.J. and Janet had met at Floyd County High School in 1962, the year county schools were consolidated and they were juniors. He went on to attend Mars Hill College, where he played football. She attended Radford College. After D.J. received his degree, he taught three years at Blacksburg High School. Janet substituted at Radford High School. Both applied to teach at Floyd County High School in the same year and started teaching in 1971.
D.J. taught advanced math classes at the high school. Janet taught English. In a 2008 interview for The Floyd Press, the Keiths, who had both retired, reflected on their careers and said their students were their “success stories.” They always have taken joy in hearing about how their students were doing after graduation and even continued friendships with many of them on into their adult years.
At the visitation Friday, Janet heard memories from several of their students, and she said she would tell them “some of those stories have grown in memory. They’d say ‘oh no, they’ve happened’.”
Janet knows about the snow blowing in the classroom windows. “That happened.” D.J., she explained, wanted his kids to stay awake. “He couldn’t abide a kid disrespecting himself by not taking an opportunity to learn and not staying awake. One way to do that was to keep the windows open.”
His voice was another way to get attention, and he shared that characteristic with fellow teachers Winfred Beale and Gary Bobbitt, Janet commented. But D.J. eventually developed an infection in his vocal chords, and they had to be cauterized. He was referred to a speech pathologist, who taught him how to project from the diaphragm, rather than the vocal chords. In later years, he did use a microphone so students could hear him.
During all of his years at FCHS, he taught in the same room – 314. Janet said one of his students put a permanent point between the 3 and 1, to make it 3.14, which begins the value of pi.
Sharon Wood, who taught alongside the Keiths at FCHS and is now retired, spoke at the funeral service Saturday. She said this week that D.J. had a passion for learning. “He just couldn’t stop. He had so much curiosity….He was very driven to learn what he could no matter what the subject was.” The passion he exhibited with his students – his expectations of them – was just part of him, she added. “He would do anything in the world to help you. It didn’t matter that you might not be the best math student, but he expected you to give your all.” She said that his collected histories on the Civil War were also shared with other professional experts on the subject.
There was a friendship the teachers also shared at FCHS, Wood added. “We were a family. We had put together a family of teachers there. We helped one another out. We celebrated the joys and triumphs of individual families. We’ve lost a family member.”
The Keiths have three children: David, Jr. and wife Vonda; Jennifer and husband Dirk Davis; and Kevin and wife Missy; and 12 grandchildren. The Keiths had the privilege of teaching all of their children. David and Jennifer entered the teaching profession. Kevin continues the farming tradition, working on the farm at Janet’s homeplace.
Janet said Tuesday there are many instances where the couple taught students and then in later years, their children. She has heard from many of them since D.J.’s passing.
One of the first people who contacted her was the former Marlene Belcher’s son, T.J. Vest, who became the Keiths’ godson. Janet said he called her from Bahrain off the coast of Saudi Arabia. Vest, who is serving with the Navy, found out about D.J.’s death on Facebook. Janet said with the internet, the news went worldwide, “to so many whose lives he touched.”
D.J. had just had prostate cancer surgery at the Duke hospital on Monday, November 23. “With all the prayers that had gone up this month…the doctor had every confidence his body would be rid of cancer,” Janet said. Janet spent the night in a recliner chair in D.J.’s hospital room. “As I roused up to look over at him, he was looking at me with the biggest grin. He said ‘I am so happy’.” Janet said that D.J. was referring to his absolute assurance that he was right with God, as he relayed to Rev. Mike Varner, and knowing the cancer was out of his body. She said they had a wonderful day, and D.J. was doing everything the doctors had said he needed to do. D.J. wanted to get home and was able to do so on Tuesday, a day earlier than expected, Janet added. “We had babysat Kevin and Missy’s twins (only a few months old) the week before….As we were coming home, he said ‘maybe they can bring the kids up tomorrow’.”
Janet recalled D.J. took a nap when he got home, and later wanted her to fix him some mashed potatoes, from the ones they had grown on the farm. He then got to catch up on the football games on tv. Janet said D.J., who had decided to sleep on the couch that night, called for her about 2:45 a.m. He was uncomfortable and hot. He had a headache on his right side, and was breathing deep, and he said his left arm was swelling. Shortly thereafter she was giving him CPR until the rescue squad arrived. He was transported to a Roanoke hospital, where the family was told he had passed away. Janet said from what she has been told, he likely had a blood clot which led to a massive heart attack.
On Saturday, the burial took place at Jacksonville Cemetery. That, too, had special meaning for the couple. When time allowed in their teaching schedule, they would go there during their lunch hour. Janet said you can look in one direction and see the high school, another direction, Buffalo Mountain, a third direction (before the trees grew), the place where her grandfather George William Slusher had lived, and a final direction to the former “Dodge” place (now Harvey) where the family had bought many of their vehicles. The cemetery is where those four points intersected, she noted.
That her husband was remembered at a visitation and funeral service at the high school where he had taught for so long was fitting, but Janet said there was a precedent 47 years ago. That was when William T. Harry, the first principal of the consolidated high school, had died from a heart attack on school grounds, and his service was held in the school auditorium.
The Keith family also did not know how many to expect for the funeral and didn’t want people standing outside in the cold weather, Janet added, saying she was comforted that the funeral was held at the school.
As visitors arrived at the visitation Friday night, they could also write down their memories of D.J. to share with Janet. Others have also written comments online on condolence pages. Writing down memories was something Janet had used in her classroom while a teacher at FCHS. It’s a tradition that began when one of her students, Joel Dalton, died in an automobile wreck. “That was the year we’d gone to seven classes a day, and I was teaching all juniors. I taught every junior in his class.” As the students arrived, they were invited to write down their memories and thoughts to Joel and his parents. Others at the school included their memories. Janet also wrote along with the students that day. She ended up with a notebook full of messages and memories. At the end of the day, she delivered the notebook to his family.
“I have done that through the years, and shared it through the faculty meetings,” Janet commented. She said she found it was a way of healing and an important part of the grieving process.
“There’s a lot of memories,” Janet said, “and they bring me peace now.”