[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 7 (Thursday, February 5, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E113-E114]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                       TRIBUTE TO ROBERT G. KEENE

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. MICHAEL P. FORBES

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, February 5, 1998

  Mr. FORBES. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to a good friend and 
neighbor to all of us Suffolk County who recently passed away, Robert 
G. Keene, beloved historian for the Town of Southampton.
  Bob was a familiar figure in Southampton and a regular columnist for 
the weekly Southampton Press, where according to his editor Peter 
Boody, :``He wrote mostly about things that irritated him, and that 
included everything from people with no class to historians who didn't 
give Southampton the credit it deserved.'' Bob was a vocal and 
articulate advocate of Southampton's cause in the debate with Southold 
over which community was the first on Long Island to establish an 
English-speaking settlement.
  For 31 years, Mr. Keene ran a bookstore and art gallery in 
Southampton that brought him into daily contact with such notables as 
Truman Capote and Willem de Kooning. His store carried many rare 
titles, including a first edition of Dr. Samuel Johnson's dictionary 
and a copy of the first Roman Catholic bible published in America. Bob 
also had a very passionate appreciation for art and eventually he 
combined his love for books and art by displaying art work in his shop.
  Bob started working with the town historian's office when it was 
under William Dunwell. Mr. Dunwell was first appointed town historian 
in 1939 and served the people of Southampton faithfully for 43 years 
until 1981 when he retired to become historian emeritus. Bob took over 
the historian's office in 1979, although he was not officially 
appointed historian until Mr. Dunwell's retirement in 1981. From day 
one Bob office was an historic treasure trove piled high with books, 
documents, photographs and local history memorabilia. The local history 
that Mr. Keene carried in his head, garnered from his own personal 
experiences and his years working with William Dunwell, was considered 
so valuable, that the town board recently budgeted $10,000 to capture 
it all in an oral-history project. Regrettably, that project was not 
begun before Mr. Keene's untimely death. An irreplaceable history is 
lost to us forever.
  Although Bob Keene only settled in Southampton in 1950, from Bar 
Harbor Maine, his heart and soul beat for Southampton. He loved 
Southampton and he loved the people of Southampton. He will be sorely 
missed. I urge my colleagues to join me in celebrating the life and 
accomplishments of Bob Keene and wishing his family, especially his 
daughter Melissa Elizabeth, our prayers and condolences.

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