Lula Crosby Keyes
Lula B. Crosby Keyes, wife and companion; teacher and educator, mentor and friend to hundreds over a 60-plus year period, died in Orlando on Monday, August 24. She had been in declining health for several years.
Her career as a teacher and educator began in the early 1960s at Oak Ridge High School as a Spanish teacher. Over the ensuing years she also served the student body as Junior Class Advisor, Spanish Club and Spanish Honor Society Advisor. She was Foreign Language Department Head for many years. She was named “Spanish Teacher of the Year” at Oak Ridge on three different occasions.
In 1978 she accepted a position at Valencia Community College as a professor in the Foreign Language Department and taught there until 2010. Lula was active in her professional societies, FLA and FFLA. She was also a member of Delta Kappa Gamma. In 1981 FFLA selected Lula as Florida’s Spanish Teacher of the Year and gave her a trip to Spain. Lula was also a faithful member of First United Methodist Church of Orlando (FUMCO).
Lula was born in Bartle, Cuba, in 1939, and immigrated to the United States in 1954 along with her parents and three siblings. The family first settled in Gainesville, Fl. Lula learned English and completed high school in 3 years with 2 scholarships. She attended the University of Florida and was graduated with honors, earning a BA in Spanish. She was quickly hired to teach Spanish at Oak Ridge, Lula earned her Master’s Degree (MAT) by attending UF during her summer breaks.
In 1964 she married Roger G. Keyes, also a UF graduate and employed at the Glen L Martin Company in Orlando. He survives her, along with her sister Jenny Crosby Adams of Titusville, brother Jesse Crosby of Atlanta, and brother Daniel Crosby of Norfolk, Va. There are also numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.
The Funeral/Celebration of Life service will be led by the Rev. Dr. Vance Rains at the First United Methodist Church in downtown Orlando at 2 p.m. on Sunday, September 13, Internment will be next to her parents in Woodlawn Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Lula C. Keyes Scholarship at Valencia Foundation or to FUMCO.
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