Form 19

September 2002

9/6

JOHN H. KELLER, 1909-2002

Conductor knew railroad history, was labor activist

LIMA, Ohio — John H. Keller,

93, a retired Norfolk & Western conductor and an expert I rail history who was a labor and civic activist died Friday in the home that he shared here with his son.

He died from injuries in a fall down stairs, his son, John D. Keller said. The elder Mr. Keller had eye surgery recently and, three weeks ago suffered a mini-stroke.

He was a charter board member of The Allen County Historical Society more than 60 years ago. He became a trustee emeritus in 1999 and the society planted two trees in his honor.

He was largely responsible for the Lincoln Park Railway Exhibit in Lima, which includes the last steam locomotive made by the Lima Locomotive Works In 1949, a private passenger car built for Calvin Brice, a rail magnate and U.S. senator, and a caboose built circa 1882. Through his efforts, the Allen County Museum became known as a prime repository of rail documents and artifacts.

"He was basically responsible for the growth of what became a very significant collection in railroad memorabilia," said Ray Schuck, a history professor at Ohio Northern University who formerly was museum director.

Mr. Keller’s interest in transportation and his concern for workers’ rights led to his vocation. He was a brakeman and later a freight conductor with the Nickel Plate Road and its successor, Norfolk & Western Railway, retiring in 1974 after 33 years. He generally ran the line from Lima to Bellevue, Ohio, and from Lima to Frankfort, Ind. In the 1950s he helped rail totters get an air-conditioned dormitory in Bellevue, when an old downtown hotel was the only place to stay his son said.

Mr. Keller was a former member of the grievance committee of Lodge 200, the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, and of the United Transportation Union. He was a founder of the Nickel Plate Federal Credit Union branch in Lima.

When A. Philip Randolph, founder of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, visited Lima in 1930, Mr. Keller went to hear him speak. He was inspired, too, by Eugene V Debs, founder of the American Railway Union and Socialist Party presidential candidate. Indeed, Mr. Keller ran for governor of Ohio in 1948 as a Christian Socialist.

Despite his political beliefs in Cold War America, "he had a good union job and they couldn’t fire him, so he thought he would be a good candidate," his son said. Mr. Keller was a 1927 graduate of Central High School, Lima. He received a bachelor’s degree from Bluffton College in 1931 and attended Garrett Methodist Theological Seminary at Northwestern University.

"His views were a little bit more liberal. It would have made it difficult to be a Methodist minister," his son said. "Dad was interested in religion, but he was not a candidate to be a minister."

He was a 67-year member of St. Mark United Methodist Church, Lima, where he led youth groups and taught Sunday school.

He was a counselor In the 1930s in 23 northwest Ohio counties for the National Youth Administration.

Mr. Keller’s interests included farming, forestry and soil conservation, and he was a member of the Men’s Garden Club, the Shade Tree Commission, and the Izaak Walton League. He was a member of the League of Women Voters and a former member of the NAACP.

He attended Lima City Council and Allen County Commissioners meetings regularly and often would be one of a handful at public hearings held by state or federal agencies.

He put his religious and his political beliefs into practice, Mr. Schuck said. "That’s how he lived every day -- in God. He was giving and generous," Mr. Schuck said.

Mr. Keller and his wife, Charlotte, married June 21, 1936. She died Dec. 12, 1980. Surviving are his son, John D. Keller and sister, Doris G. Keller.

Services will be at 7 p.m. tomorrow in the Chiles & Son-Laman Mortuary Shawnee Chapel, Lima, where the body will be after 4 p.m. tomorrow.

The family requests tributes to the Allen County Museum, Bluffton College, or St. Mark United Methodist Church.