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Submitted: 11/19/16 • Approved: 11/22/16 • Last Updated: 11/25/16 • R1162111-G1162108-S3
May 7, 1925 - Dec 8, 2015
*Obituary
arkansasonline.com
Published: December 13, 2015
LETA MAE "LEE" KEENIHAN of Sherwood, Ark. passed away peacefully Tuesday Dec. 8, 2015 at her home surrounded by family at the age of 90.
The youngest of two children she was born May 7, 1925 in Fort Smith, Ark. to Cora Katherine and Charles Henry Oberlag. The family moved to Melrose Circle in the Argenta District of North Little Rock where her father built the brick building at the corner of Melrose Circle and Willow Street from which he ran a general store. Her mother sold pencils and cigarettes during the great depression at a corner stand downtown, and later operated a boarding house in the mid 1930's.
A graduate of Little Rock High School in 1943, she married soon after to Oakley E. Beight and began their family of three children. In 1958 she began a small company in the spare bedroom of the family home. Through her visionary touch and entrepreneurial spirit she successfully started the first tele-fundraising company in the nation Heritage Publishing to fund raise for non-profit organizations. This endeavor, which was ahead of its time, would later become The Heritage Company a preeminent leader in non-profit marketing. She ‘retired' in the 1990's, though her family would likely dispute the notion that she ever fully retired from the business she loved.
It was through her publishing work that she met the love of her life Walter. He was so smitten with her that during a road trip to Florida in his new baby blue convertible, he drove the car onto the beach where during their date the tide came in and swamped the car. They married Sept. 9, 1969 and remained so until his passing in 2003.
Mrs. Keenihan was a supporter of various charities including being a founding supporter, with her husband Walter, of Hearts & Hooves of Sherwood. A non-profit therapeutic horseback riding facility for people with disabilities, Hearts & Hooves has helped hundreds of disabled children, youth, and adults through equine-assisted therapeutic activities.
Her love of travel developed at an early age, from trips to Missouri and Illinois as a young child to visit relatives to longer journeys as far west as Los Angeles, Calif. to visit her father in the 1940's. In her later years she traveled extensively with her husband, family and friends visiting various parts of the world. She took great pleasure in planning and going on these adventures.
All of her life she had an innate sense of architecture, design, and organization of interior space which was a gift she shared with her family and friends. Her vision, spirit, and unique presence will be greatly missed by all who knew her.
Mrs. Keenihan is survived by her three children: Steven S. Beight, Sandra Beight Franecke; Kathryn Zachary and her husband Luther. She has five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren: Stuart McGilvray, his wife Anne, and their children Gavin, Mairyn, and Sarah Anne; Jennifer Franecke; Dr. Cody Beight, his wife Brandy, and their children Gabriella, Savannah, and Sawyer; and Kelsey Beight, of Little Rock and Sherwood.
She is preceded in death by her parents, her brother Herman Kenneth Oberlag, her husband Walter Keenihan, and her grandson Geoffrey McGilvray.
A memorial service will be held Tuesday Dec. 15, 2015 at North Little Rock Funeral Home 1921 Main Street, North Little Rock at 2 o'clock p.m. Flowers may be sent to the funeral home, or in lieu of flowers donations may be made in Mrs. Keenihan's memory to Hearts & Hooves.
Section B
Contributed on 11/19/16 by hawkinsdonna
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Record #: 1162111