VALDOSTA — To many at Smith Northview Hospital, a campus of South Georgia Medical Center, 92-year-old Kay Keeler is a guardian angel. Which is ironic, considering Keeler is a self-proclaimed angel fanatic.

“I’m a little bit nutsy about angels,” said Keeler with a laugh. “That’s my thing.”

However, her angel-like reputation doesn’t come as a result of the angel pins scattered across her uniform or the angel her daughter, Patti Ann Zemba, had embroidered onto her volunteer uniform. No, it is simply because Keeler is one of those rare, kind-hearted individuals who goes above and beyond for the people at Smith Northview whom she considers her family.

“This place is so special,” said Keeler. “When I leave here, I’m leaving my family.”

Keeler has been volunteering at Smith Northview for eight years, and Thursday, April 26, was her last day. She moved to Kentucky to be with family.

Keeler and her husband, Delbert, began volunteering at Smith Northview in 2004 after moving to Valdosta. They have lived in several places and always volunteered at hospitals wherever they were.

“Wherever we were, we volunteered,” said Keeler.

Smith Northview became a special place for Keeler and her husband. They walked the halls together and often worked alongside each other. Later in 2007, her husband passed away in the same hospital that had become like a second home to them. Even still, Keeler continued to dedicate her time. That’s just the kind of person Keeler is. She’s dedicated and when she puts her mind to getting something done, it doesn’t just become a goal, it becomes fact.

Her children are a testament to that. Keeler has two adopted children: A son, John Charles, who was adopted at 3 months old and a daughter, Patti Ann, whom Keeler and her husband adopted from Hong Kong, China, at age 6.

When Keeler and her husband set out to adopt their first child in 1956, they were told it could take up to three years to receive a child. Keeler knew that three years was just unacceptable as she was ready to be a mother. They told the adoption agency that they just wanted a baby. Race, culture and gender aside, they just wanted a child.

Little time had passed and Keeler received the call that there was a mixed-race child who needed a home. She and her husband went to the orphanage where little John was. The nun brought John to the window, and his eyes lit up and he gave one of those smiles that a baby gives a mother that only a mother could understand.

“I knew he wanted us,” said Keeler.

Keeler immediately wanted to know when she could take John home. To her dismay, she was told the agency was considering three other families.

“I thought, If I don’t get that baby, it would be like mourning my own child,” said Keeler.

So when Keeler received the call in a few months that John was hers, she was not surprised. She knew from the beginning that John’s home was with her and her husband.

In 1964, Keeler and her husband adopted Patti Ann. Aside from yet again facing the obstacles of adoption, Patti Ann only spoke Chinese, and Keeler and her husband only spoke English.

“Twinkle, twinkle, little star was all she knew in English,” said Keeler.

Keeler had to teach Patti Ann English herself. She even started school a year late due to the language barrier. However, like all other things in Keeler’s life, challenges were nothing in the face of her determination.

The only time that Keeler ever met defeat was when she married her husband in 1954.

“I was never going to get married,” said Keeler.

She had been engaged a few times, but she had determined that marriage just wasn’t for her. Little did she know that the problem wasn’t the institution of marriage, but rather, she just hadn’t met her Delbert yet.

“He was very bright and very funny,” said Keeler. “I think he saw the same things in me.”

Four months and four days after meeting, they married. Keeler was 32 and her husband was 35.

Originally from Chicago where Keeler spent 37 years of her life, she isn’t like many women in South Georgia. She’s a bit of a smart aleck (so she says) and has a joke for pretty much everything. She calls it like she sees it, as do many quintessential “Chicago” characters do. Even at the age of 92, she still has life goals, which include living to the age of 100. All in all, Keeler is one of a kind.

While she is full of life stories and seems to share them with whomever takes an interest, anyone who knows her or has even met her for just a brief moment will tell you this: She’s an angel. She has done so much for Smith Northview Hospital in the time she has spent there, and her beam of light will be sorely missed by all who have encountered it.

“There’s so much warmth here in Valdosta,” said Keeler. “It’s a very special place.”

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