Jeanette Keyser Maygarden

Jeanette Leontine Keyser Maygarden of Mobile passed away August 24. She is survived by her husband, Lt. Col. (Ret.) Ernest M. Maygarden; sister Lois K. Durham and brother Robert T. Keyser; children Ernest M. Maygarden, Jr., Madeline L. Maygarden, Anthony T. Maygarden, and Benjamin D. Maygarden; and six grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents, Benjamin E. Keyser and Ruby S. Keyser; and brothers Benjamin E. Keyser, Jr. and William D. Keyser.

Jeanette was born in New Orleans in 1927. In 1943 she graduated from Murphy High School, Mobile and joined the Mobile Press-Register full-time. In 1944 she became Society and Women's Editor. She was active in the Joe Jefferson Players. In 1951 she married Ernest M. Maygarden of Mobile, an officer in the U.S. Air Force. She circled the globe with her family, stationed in Washington, D.C.; Rangoon, Burma; and Oslo, Norway. Returning to Virginia, she was president of the Armed Forces Staff College Women's Club. After Ernest's retirement from the Air Force, she founded the Retired Officer's Wives Society of Tidewater in 1973 and served as first president. She was a writer for the Virginian-Pilot/Ledger-Star, and began a second career in public relations for the Tidewater Chapter of the American Red Cross and other organizations. In 1981 she and Ernest moved to the Shenandoah Valley, where she wrote for the Harrisonburg Daily News-Record. They returned to Mobile in 1989. Her support of the Joe Jefferson Players earned her the Harris Award in 1996. She videotaped a series of interviews about Mobile history, archived at the University of South Alabama. She and Ernest traveled to Canada, Mexico, and many areas that she had not visited as a military wife. In 2005 she donated her worldwide collection of cookbooks to the Southern Food and Beverage Museum in New Orleans. She was a member of Corpus Christi Parish in Mobile.

Visitation will be at the Radney Funeral Home, 3155 Dauphin St., Mobile at 9-11 AM, Tuesday, September 1, followed by burial at Magnolia Cemetery.

Arrangements under the direction of Radney Funeral Home-Mobile, Mobile, AL.