'He was a treasure we lost': Fred Keller, otherwise known as 'Mr. Sussex,' dies at age 91
It would be a safe bet to say that nearly every single person, who lived in Sussex knew Fred Keller. If they did not know him personally, they knew of him.
How could they not?
He was a decades-long reporter for the Sussex Sun, which is now Northwest Now. He has a field in Lisbon on Good Hope Road named after him called the Fred Keller Field. He started the Sussex-Lisbon Area Historium in 2000, and was a permanent fixture there. He served as a volunteer firefighter for the Sussex department for 26 years. He has a bench dedicated to him at Lisbon Community Park.
He was the first person on the park board, where he negotiated land and crafted the designs for the first Sussex Village Park. He has a strip of the Bugline Trail by the fire department named after him: the Fred Keller Memory lane. He worked for the Public Works Department in Sussex, and later became superintendent of the Parks and Recreation Department for the community until he retired in 1994. Under his tenure, parks in the Sussex area increased from three to 11. And in the Sussex house he lived in for over 60 years, he has the Sussex logo printed on his garage. He and his wife June were known as Sussex's beloved couple as they were married 67 years until she died in October of 2021.
Coined as "Mr. Sussex" and known as the local historian, Keller died Jan. 12, at age 91.
"He was special to everyone," said Rita Hahn, a longtime friend and president of Sussex-Lisbon Area Historical Society.
"Look at all he accomplished," said Jeremy Smith, Sussex village administrator. "He was hugely involved in the community and a historian."
Everything he collected, every person he saw and whatever activity he did was an opportunity to share stories. Even a week before he died, he would sit in the lobby of The Courtyard at Sussex, where he lived for about the last year of his life, charming all who walked by with stories of Sussex.
"When he started twiddling his thumbs, you knew you were in for a story," added Hahn.
Through serving the country, athletics, writing, storytelling and collecting historical items, he seemed to do it all.
"What was his legacy?" his daughter Carol Fosdick asked. That was a hard question for her to answer.
"It's his legacies," she corrected. "He did so much."
A prankster of sorts
Keller's children, Craig, Carol, Catherine and Curt, remember many pranks Keller did that deals with food. He meant no harm, his adult children agreed, but they were a lot of fun. For instance, he would always get June a box of Russell Stover candies, and then he would carefully open the box and eat a few. He would make the empty wrappers look like candy was still in them and wait for June to grab a piece and say: "Some of them are missing."
He would just chuckle away, Fosdick said. Another thing that Keller did was that if someone eating next to him looked away or if he asked someone to look away their food, he would snag part of their food.
"If you turn your head, your food would be gone," Fosdick said. If a glass was yours, and he was thirsty, he would sneak a sip when you were not looking.
But the "doughnut" tree tradition was the most clever. Keller would take his younger grandchildren or great-grandchildren to the store to get seeds to put inside of six Cheerios or Fruit Loops. Then he would sprinkle them with water and sugar and put it in a pot.
"Doughnuts will grow," he would say. Then during the night, he would place doughnuts on the tree. When the kids woke up, they would run to the plant and be amazed to see the doughnuts.
The day after Keller died, his family started to do this to keep his memory alive.
A writer to the core
Writing was just something Keller always did, his family said. When he was in the service, he wrote an account of his journey and experiences each day as well as to his wife as they were dating when he served in Germany and France.
He also, said Hahn, wrote multiple books on the history of Sussex and a book on the history of the Sussex Fire Department as well as information for the Sussex-Lisbon Area Historium's website.
He wrote for the Sussex Sun, where he wrote most of the Sussex news and all the sports events, said Scott Peterson, who was editor-in-chief for the Sussex Sun as well as several other community newspapers in the Milwaukee suburbs.
"He was Mr. Sussex because everyone knew him and loved him. You could probably could not find a soul in his heyday who did not know him. He loved everything about Sussex. He loved sports, loved history," Peterson said. He also wrote a historical column called Reflections and Bald Facts. "It was sometimes an exhausted amount of history, but Fred wanted to make sure it was documented in detail," he said.
Peterson said that the column Bald Facts was "in honor of his hairless sculpt filled with little nuggets and cornball humor."
In his column, his writing got chuckles as he included his wife in many of his stories. Anytime he referred to his wife, it was always as "wife June." Always without the modifier "my.""His passion was really special. He knew the topic he was writing about. He was happy to be there. Because he played the game, he had his unique writing style (when he covered sports for the Sussex Sun)," said Chuck Delsman, who was a longtime sports editor for the Lake Country Reporter when Keller covered sports for the Sussex Sun. "He had his unique style. He got to the point and talked to the coaches, not just do the play-by-play (which was the common way of covering sports). Delsman said Keller started in 1971 and was there for more than 40 years.
Melissa Kubasa, Keller's granddaughter, said Keller also wrote in simple ways. Every week, Keller wrote postcards to each of his grandchildren. "Each of his. He would thank us for making dinner or would send a postcard and whatever he wanted to write," she said. "I saved them all."
'He attended every game'
Keller, with four children and 11 grandchildren who all played at least one sport, never, ever missed a game. If his grandson played in a travel league basketball team in Florida or Las Vegas, he packed to travel to watch the game. Every child and grandchild won multiple athletic letters, with two of them winning 16 each.
Kubasa said her grandfather just made the experience fun. Keller agreed to give all his grandchildren money for every point scored. Her highest game, she said, was 15 points. But what was fun about it, is that he shelled the money out in crazy different denominations. It would be a silver dollar or different kinds of coins.
"He would fold it in weird shapes. He made it fun," she said. She said she always strived to do her best, not for the money, as that was just for fun.
"I wanted to make him proud," she said.
Sports was something Keller excelled at, especially basketball, as he was tall. He started at the basketball team at Marquette High School, where he won two state championships, played a year at Marquette University and transferred to Carroll College, where he also played a year. He then joined the military in 1954 where he was assigned to the military police while stationed in Germany. There and in France, he played basketball on sports leagues.
At his Sussex home, Keller had a full-court outdoor basketball court built where he and his wife played hostess and entertained any neighborhood kid who came over to play.
"He just enjoyed sports. He had that competitive drive," said Craig Keller, one of his sons. Craig said if he played cards or a game with his grandchildren, he never let them win; they had to earn it. "He wanted people to do their best and enjoy the ride. If a team lost, he thought it was important that they did their best," Craig said. "If they lost, he wanted them to try harder next time."
But one thing that many may not know about Keller is his commitment to girls sports. Right before Title IX, the federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs and activities, was in effect, Keller help start the girls basketball team at Hamilton High School.
"He was a huge proponent of this," said his son, Curt Keller. When he was not coaching or watching his kids play, he covered all sports for the Sussex Sun, where he earned another nickname, "Photo Fred." This was because when he was a sportswriter for the paper, he always had a camera around his neck, as he insisted on taking his own photos.
"He was always at the games home and away and took thousands if not tens of thousands of photos All of which he made available. He was committed to all our athletes and took a special interest and pride in the growth and opportunity for girls in sports. He was a great promoter and supporter of Hamilton Athletics and the Sussex community," added Jerry Keyes, who was the athletic director at Hamilton High School from 1985 to 1991.
Amy Martin, a trustee for the Village of Lannon and a former athlete who played soccer, volleyball and basketball through Hamilton and played softball through the Sussex-Lisbon Youth Baseball Association, said she has dozens of photos Keller took of her.
"He was always at games, taking photos, sharing highlights and stories in the Sussex Sun and really supported all athletes. Many of my favorite sports photos were ones Fred took of me playing soccer," she said. "He was always at games, taking photos, sharing highlights and stories in the Sussex Sun and really supported all athletes."
'A walking historian'
When Keller was as young as 14, he began collecting items. He was fascinated with the history in the area and started collecting artifacts and things he found in dumpsters and around the community.
When he worked at Sussex Mill as a young adult, he loved asking others questions and collecting their stories. Some gave him personal, historical items that he found interesting. But when he was turning 70, his house became almost too full with items. He wanted to put them to good use, so he donated what he had to what is now the Sussex-Lisbon Area Historical Society, which incorporated in 2001. Since then, he volunteered at the museum, sharing stories of Sussex and even wrote a few history books.
Whenever he traveled with his grandkids, he would stop at a place and do a history lesson.
"He was always more than willing to talk and share his perspective about the community. He would tell me things no one else would know," said Joe Osterman, town chair of Lisbon. "He cared about people, and he kept the history alive. He was a treasure we lost, and he can never be replaced."
Keller knew a lot, Hahn said, adding that the society could not have started without Keller.
"He was a walking history book," she said.
Hahn said she and Keller's family are working on funeral arrangements, but nothing has been scheduled. But she said Fred and June Keller will be buried next to each other. On Fred's headstone, Hahn said, is his name and local historian underneath his name. June will have "Wife June" on hers.
She also said the historical books he wrote and his collectibles are at the Sussex-Lisbon Area Historium, which is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Monday and Wednesday. Hahn said she plans on writing an autobiography about Keller's life.
Cathy Kozlowicz can be reached at 262-361-9132 or cathy.kozlowicz@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @KozlowiczCathy.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Fred Keller, known as Mr. Sussex, dies at age 91
