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| Affiliation | Republican |
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| Name | Ralph F. Keen, Sr. |
| Address |
Tahlequah, Oklahoma , United States |
| Email | None |
| Website | None |
| Born |
August 31, 1934
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| Died | November 27, 2002
(68 years)
|
| Contributor | eddy 9_99 |
| Last Modifed | David
Sep 01, 2021 09:37pm |
| Tags |
Married - Air Force - Protestant -
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| Info | Ralph F. Keen, retired Cherokee Nation tribunal chief justice and former U.S. Attorney for Oklahoma�s Eastern District, was remembered as a man who played a major role in the tribe�s re-emergence and in settling the 1997 constitutional crisis.
Keen, who was buried on Nov. 30, 2002, in Ross Cemetery, Park Hill, died Nov. 27, at the age of 68. His funeral service was at the First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Tulsa. Eulogies were delivered by Principal Chief Chad Smith and former Principal Chief Wilma Mankiller.
�Ralph Keen reflects the re-emergence of the Cherokee Nation in modern times,� Smith said. �After J.B. Milam and W.W. Keeler struggled 30 years to revitalize the Cherokee Nation, Ralph Keen in 1967 became the first employee of the Cherokee Nation since Oklahoma statehood.
�He began the hands-on rebuilding of the nation when the nation had no budget, office or employees.�
Smith also praised Keen�s response to the Cherokee Nation constitutional crisis in 1997.
�It was during this constitutional crisis of the Cherokee Nation that Ralph Keen was most passionate and clear,� Smith said. �But for his defense, the Cherokee Nation could have suffered irreparable harm�. With his judicial guidance, the crisis came to an end in 1999.
�Ralph Keen executed his oath of office to faithfully uphold the Constitution of the Cherokee Nation,� Smith said upon presenting a flag of the Cherokee Nation to his wife Karen and the family.
�The good work he started in 1967 of rebuilding the Cherokee Nation and in 1997 of protecting its constitutional government will be remembered and not forgotten in the annals of Cherokee history nor in the hearts of Cherokees.�
Mankiller also said Keen was a �remarkable man� who played a major role in the revitalization of the contemporary Cherokee Nation. She pointed out that he traveled throughout the boundaries of the Cherokee Nation, visiting the Cherokee people to talk about developing a constitutional form of government and �to organize community meetings to discuss the proposed constitution.�
�From the outset, Ralph was outspoken and could never be characterized as someone who went along to get along. He had strong opinions about issues, particularly as they related to Cherokee people, and he was not afraid to express his opinion and defend his position on any issue,� she said.
Mankiller recalled that on Feb. 25, l997, Ralph Keen, acting as magistrate, issued a warrant enabling Cherokee Nation marshals to search and copy financial and other records from the tribal complex.
�The marshals were promptly fired (by former Chief Joe Byrd) and the three justices ordered their reinstatement,� she said. �Those events precipitated a two-year constitutional crisis so severe that Ralph and the two other justices, also prominent Cherokee citizens, were barred from their own court room and subjected to an illegal attempt to impeach all of them.
�Of the many people who worked so hard to restore the courts, reinstate the marshals, and get the government working again, no one deserves more credit than Ralph Keen. He was the voice of reason during an era that one scholar called, �the near death experience of the Cherokee Nation.��
�Ralph could have lived a safe, comfortable life practicing law,� she said. �He chose instead to use his skills and abilities to live a life of service to others. If he could speak to us today, I know he would want us to celebrate his life just as he did. He was a man who lived on his own terms up to the very last minute of his time here on Earth. Now he is as rest. May he rest in peace.�
Keen was born Aug. 31, 1934, to Charlotte and Charley Keen in Hominy, Okla., where he also attended primary school and junior high.
In 1949, Keen enrolled at Chilocco Indian School north of Newkirk. He graduated with a diploma and a certificate of proficiency in printing in 1953.
After graduation, he worked in the composing room of the Bartlesville Examiner Enterprise. He left that position when he joined the Army. He served in the infantry in Germany.
He attended Northeastern State University in Tahlequah from January 1957 until he joined the Air Force.
Upon returning from the Air Force, Keen returned to NSU and earned a degree in education with a major in history and a minor in English in 1963. While he earned his degree, Keen also worked at night as a Linotype operator for the Stilwell Democrat-Journal.
After graduation, he became a high school history teacher in Baldwin City, Kan., where he coached football and golf and was the yearbook editor.
The following year, he was hired by Haskell Indian Junior College in Lawrence, Kan., where he taught printing and was an assistant football coach.
When he left the teaching profession, he did so to take a job that would launch a long relationship with various Indian tribes. He became executive director of the Inter-Tribal Council of Nevada.
Later, because of his knowledge of Indian affairs, Keen accepted the position of assistant director of the Bureau of Indian Services at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. He was later promoted to director of the program.
During his time at the University of Utah, he persuaded the chief of his own Cherokee tribe to open an office and to institute a program of management and services. The chief, W.W. Keeler, hired Keen to head the planning and organizing of the new Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma.
During his tenure, the tribe opened a new tribal office complex, a Housing Authority, a construction company and Cherokee Nation Industries.
In 1969, Keen left to pursue his dream of obtaining a law degree and enrolled at the University of Tulsa College of Law. He was awarded the first dean�s scholarship and graduated in the upper 10 percent of his class after only two years and three months of schooling.
In 1974, he ran for the congressional seat in Oklahoma�s Second District. After winning the primary, he was narrowly defeated in the general election.
He then accepted a position with the administration of President Gerald Ford, serving almost two years as the director of the Office of Trust Responsibility in the Department of the Interior before he returned to Oklahoma to practice law in Tahlequah.
Before long, Keen was appointed by the chief to serve on the newly created Judicial Appeals Tribunal of the Cherokee Nation. The Tribal Council designated him as the first chief justice of the tribunal.
During the same time, Keen was appointed as chairman of the joint tribal Chairman�s Association/National Congress of American Indians Committee on water rights.
During this same time, he began publishing the Cherokee County Chronicle in Tahlequah.
In 1983, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Oklahoma asked Keen to join his staff. In May 1984, he was promoted to chief of the office�s Civil Division.
His term as a Cherokee Nation supreme court justice expired in February 1999.
Keen is survived by his wife, Karen Keen of Broken Arrow; three sons, Ralph Keen Jr. of Stilwell, Taylor Keen of Tulsa and John Keen of Omaha, Neb.; a daughter, Emerald Keen of Owasso; two stepsons, Mitchell Hall of Overland Park, Kan., and Jeffery Hall of Point Mugu, Calif.; and nine grandchildren.
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