New sign honors Keeton’s community service

RED BAY — The quarter- mile Hoyt Keeton Walking Trail now has a new sign.

Keeton family members, city officials and community supporters recently gathered to unveil the new sign. Memorial donations made after the death of Keeton’s wife, Peggy, helped fund the project.

Red Bay Garden Club member Tracie Clark said community members discussed ways to better recognize Keeton and decided a new and bigger sign was the answer.

Clark, Tanis Clifton, Scotty Kennedy and Mayor Mike Shewbart worked together on the effort.

She said the Red Bay Garden Club contributed to the project, along with money that had been set aside from the memorial donations.

Keeton lived in Red Bay for his entire life. His parents owned Red Bay Grocery, where he began working at around 10 years old delivering groceries throughout the community. Most groceries at the time were sold on credit and delivered directly to customers’ homes.

Keeton worked as a Chevron gasoline driver before purchasing the Big Star grocery store in Red Bay in 1989 and another Big Star in Belmont, Mississippi, in 1992.

In addition to operating grocery stores, he served as president of Keeton Oil Company and Southern Grocers, Inc. for 46 years.

The Big Star in Red Bay remains family operated.

Hal Keeton said his father valued the relationships that came with small-town life.

“He loved the smalltown atmosphere, the connection with everybody, just knowing every- body,” he said.

Keeton remained active in civic and community organizations throughout his life. He was a charter member of the Red Bay Lions Club, where he received the Melvin Jones Award, and a charter member of the Red Bay Athletic Boosters Club.

He was inducted into the Franklin County Sports Hall of Fame and received the chamber’s Hall of Fame Award in 2004.

Keeton also supported local athletics and rarely missed an opportunity to attend games.

“He was probably one of the only people I ever knew who would go to football games and basketball games and not have kids or grandkids playing,” Hal Keeton said. “He just liked all of it.”

He said his father enjoyed being around people.

“He loved people and loved pulling jokes,” he said.

Shewbart remembered Keeton as someone who always made time for others.

“He never met a stranger, and he had time to talk with you,” Shewbart said.

Clark remembered him as “a great businessman and a real good family man.”

Hal Keeton said the trail remains one of his father’s lasting connections to the community, adding his father spent years encouraging city leaders to create a walking trail in Red Bay.