VIRGINIA’S Louisville
Aaron Burch
T
here are few Louisville physicians described with greater
admiration and reverence than Arthur (Art) and Vir-
ginia Keeney, for good reason. The Keeneys dedicated
decades to the development and expansion of health care
possibilities in Louisville and other cities as well. Resting
on laurels was not to be considered as they elevated the fields of
psychiatry, ophthalmology, ethics, community health and more.
In some capacity, this drive was passed to their three children,
Dr. Martha Heyburn, Steven Keeney and Lee Douglas Keeney. In
the shadow of their prestigious parents, they grew up to become an
eye surgeon, an attorney and an author, respectively.
“When you’re raised in a household where both parents are
physicians, it gives you the gift of believing you can be whatever
you want. You assume you will,” said Dr. Martha Heyburn.
Art Keeney perhaps made more headlines. He was a renowned
ophthalmologist and medical researcher, an army physician in South
Korea, a gifted lecturer invited all over the world, and Dean of the
UofL School of Medicine from 1973 to 1980. But, he went nowhere
without his companion, soulmate and arguably better half, Virginia.
Her story cannot be told without Art Keeney, and no one should
try. Nonetheless, this is her story.
Dr. Virginia Keeney was born March 23, 1920, in Albany, N.Y., to
Leon Lyle and Mabel Alice Tripp. Even now, Dr. Keeney is hesitant
to admit that her childhood was, in some ways, quite picturesque.
“I was a spoiled only child. My father was a custom yacht builder.
We summered on Lake Champlain, a huge lake separating Vermont
and New York, in a boat that he built. Then came the Depression,
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LOUISVILLE MEDICINE
and nobody was buying big, beautiful yachts anymore,” Dr. Keeney
explained while sitting in the communal and elegant dining room
of Treyton Oak Towers.
When times were tough during The Great Depression, Leon
Lyle sold all of his boats and changed careers. His wife joined the
workforce as well. “My mother began working and never looked
back. She loved it and kept on long after it wasn’t needed,” Dr.
Keeney recalled.
At 16, Dr. Keeney began work as well. She was paid 50 cents
per minute to read radio advertisements on air. “They liked what
I was doing and soon gave me a small program of my own, giving
listeners household tips. I was 17 and didn’t know anything myself,”
she laughed.
She met Arthur Keeney at a football rally during their freshman
year at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va. “There
was a big bonfire, and this nice young fellow stood next to me. He
sort of sheltered me when the fire got too warm. By and by we held
hands, and neither of us ever dated anyone else again.”
They were engaged two years later, but her father said they
couldn’t marry until Art had finished his freshman year of medical
school. That wouldn’t be a problem.
“Dad wanted to be sure Art would see it through. So, Art imme-
diately took full time summer classes and completed his freshman
year early. We were married in the First Church of Albany, that
Christmas 1942.”
The 1940s were a whirlwind for the Keeneys. Initially, they
moved to Louisville because Art’s mother had asked them to help