Pinecrest Pioneer June Keedy Celebrates 100th Birthday
Published on June 27, 2025
June Keedy, a Pinecrest Pioneer, turned 100 this week. A pillar of her family and community, June is the mother of Dr. Jennifer Keedy, a radiologist, and the proud grandmother of Christine Keedy Brown, a rising sophomore at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Patrick Keedy Brown, a rising senior at Ransom Everglades School.
Born in Chicago in 1925, June played a vital role on the American home front during World War II as one of the original “Rosie the Riveters.” She worked as a welder assembling long-range Douglas C-54 Skymaster aircraft at what is now O’Hare International Airport. She later married her childhood sweetheart, “Pitch,” a machinist who served aboard the battleship USS Mississippi. The couple moved to Miami in 1954, but tragically, Pitch passed away from cancer not long after.
June later found love again and married Dr. Christian Keedy, a pioneering Florida neurosurgeon and widower who served in a mobile surgical unit during World War II, including during the Battle of the Bulge. After the war, Dr. Keedy relocated from Amherst, Massachusetts to Miami and became one of the founding physicians of Baptist Hospital of Kendall, also practicing for many years at South Miami Hospital. Together, the couple raised a blended family, and in 1964, June gave birth to their daughter, Jennifer.
In the 1970s, June became a fixture at Pinecrest Elementary School, volunteering to run the school store during Jennifer’s school years—a tradition she joyfully revisited more than four decades later when her grandson Patrick also attended Pinecrest.
Never one to sit still, June earned both her bachelor's and master's degrees in social work in the 1980s and spent more than a decade serving families in underserved Miami-Dade communities, including Hialeah, North Miami, and Overtown, until her retirement in 1996.
Beyond her professional and volunteer work, June has lived a vibrant cultural life. She once marched in the Orange Bowl Parade with a string band, served as an usher at the Coconut Grove Playhouse and later at the Arsht Center, and has never missed a Coconut Grove Arts Festival in over 50 years. She and her family were diehard Miami Dolphins and University of Miami football fans—regulars at games at the original Orange Bowl stadium.
June attributes her longevity to staying physically and mentally active. She practices yoga three times a week, watches her diet—though she cheerfully admits that anything chocolate is her favorite indulgence—and remains active in women’s clubs and community events. She has also been a devoted member of Christ the King Lutheran Church since the 1950s.
As she celebrates her 100th birthday, June Keedy’s life remains an inspiring testament to service, resilience, and joyful engagement with the world around her.