Patsy Rouzer Keever '69 and Betsy Keever '96
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| Political pair: Betsy, left, and Patsy Keever |
Invited to throw out a pitch at an Asheville
Tourists minor league baseball game, Patsy Rouzer Keever, a lanky
fifty-six-year-old, takes aim. Her fans in the stands wave "Keever
for Congress" signs and scream support for their favorite
Democrat. She winds up and releases. The ball bounces, twice, before
reaching the catcher at home plate, which prompts the fans to scream
all the more enthusiastically.
The pitch was good exposure arranged by her campaign manager, Betsy
Keever, who also happens to be her youngest daughter. Since May
2004, the two have been galloping around North Carolina's 11th
District, shaking hands, speaking to civic clubs, and raising money
for Patsy's campaign. "People say, 'Now you get to tell your
mom what to do,' " says Betsy. "But it's not that way.
It's more of a partnership. We both understand what our new roles
are and play them."
On November 2, the retired middle-school teacher faces seven-term
Republican incumbent Charles Taylor. Though Keever is a veteran
commissioner for Asheville's Buncombe County, she is a rookie at
running for national office. The pundits have her pegged as a long
shot but, by early September, Keever and her supporters had out-raised
Taylor's campaign for three quarters running. They had also assembled
a network of 600-plus volunteers, who were busy making phone calls,
knocking on doors, and arranging fund-raisers.
Duke was a natural choice for Patsy Rouzer: Her maternal grandfather,
the late Gordon Carver '15; her mother, Nancy Carver Alexander
'42; and her uncle, Gordon Carver Jr. '47, captain of the Rose
Bowl football team, preceded her. Patsy majored in education, joined
Zeta Tau Alpha sorority, and met her husband, John Keever Jr. '67,
B.H.S. '83, on a blind date. In her junior year, she took part
in the Silent Vigil that followed the assassination of Martin Luther
King Jr. on April 4, 1968, "the first time I stood up for
something I believed in," she recalls.
Keever won her first commissioner's seat in 1992 and was re-elected
in 1996. Just after she won a third term in 2000, her husband was
diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer, most likely a result
of exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam. Two years later, after
twenty-five years of teaching, Patsy took early retirement to stay
home and care for Johnny. He died on April 30, 2003.
After months of mulling her next move, Patsy decided she wouldn't
run for chair of the county commission after all, as Johnny had
urged. Instead, she'd run for U.S. Congress. She asked Betsy to
be her campaign manager.
While at Duke, Betsy had been an English major and a track team
walk-on. She went on to set seven individual and team records in
the outdoor 800-meters, the indoor 1,000-meters, and several team
relays.
After a year in Bolivia and four years in San Francisco doing nonprofit
work, Betsy moved home, where she helped her mother care for her
father until his death. She had no sooner moved to New York City
to be near her boyfriend when she received her mom's invitation. "When
she decided to run, I had no doubt I wanted to help," says
Betsy.
Patsy says she is pleased to have Betsy at her side: During the
difficult, final months of Johnny's life, "having Betsy here
was what gave me my sanity." Together, the two women developed
the Evening Jell-O Ritual--playing with their dessert. "We
definitely needed a release, and colorful, jiggly things helped," says
Betsy. Both say that this shared goofy sense of humor has helped
them in the campaign, as well.
Whether Patsy wins or loses, Betsy says, she's glad she could be
there to help. "How often does your mom run for Congress?"
--Eric Larson
Larson '93 is a freelance writer
living in Maggie Valley, North Carolina.
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