02/18/2026
The words below aren’t mine, but they echo what I feel.
There are people who may never be nationally famous, yet their lives ripple through generations. Mr. Keyes was one of those people.
I carry a deep passion for my work — especially around mental health, healing, and breaking stigma. That calling was mine to discover, but my actions in pursuing it didn’t come from nowhere. It was shaped by teachers, mentors, and role models who showed me what steady service looks like.
Mr. Keyes was one of them.
I can only continue forward, doing the work I feel called to do, and hope that one day someone might say I made a fraction of the impact he did.
May we all live lives of quiet courage and meaningful presence.
RIP, Mr. Keyes.
104 trips around the sun, years of a well-lived life.
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The following was written by Rei Sadler, a high school friend.
Willie Geist has a segment on "Sunday Today" called "A Life Well-Lived." He pays tribute to someone who recently passed, not necessarily famous, but who made an impact while alive.
On Saturday, a gentleman passed away at the age of 104, leaving an impact on others and truly having a life well-lived.
William "Billy" Keyes served with the 761st Tank Battalion in WWII (the "Black Panthers"). Attached to General Patton's 3rd Army, they were the first African American armored unit to see combat in the Army. These men also helped to liberate the Gunskirchen Concentration Camp in Austria on May 4, 1945. They freed about 15,000 Hungarian Jewish prisoners and gave their own rations to these starving people. On his 103rd birthday in 2024, he was honored at an Orioles game.
That's an amazing legacy alone, but this man did more. He was a police officer in Washington, D.C. He was a restaurateur. He was a Civil Rights Activist. He was a teacher for 35 years in Anne Arundel County (Maryland). He even wrote a book called “William S. Keyes: Keyes to a Long Life."
How many of you can remember the name of a substitute teacher you had at any time from kindergarten to 12th grade? Well, I can tell you that there are GENERATIONS of students who went to South River High School in Edgewater, Maryland, who will always remember Mr. Keyes. I graduated in 1992; my son graduated in 2012. We both had him, as did many students before me and after my son. This man left a lasting impression as a SUBSTITUTE teacher. Most of us did not know his many accomplishments until we were adults. What we remember of him is that he genuinely cared about the students he was sent to "babysit" for the day.
But we never saw him as a substitute; that was a babysitter. No. If you were wearing red, you'd be asked if you were a "Co**ie," sending everyone in class into laughter. If a teenage boy got mouthy, he didn't take it, and most of the time a comment like, "Sit down, you co**ie," was enough to get the kid to behave. If he remembered you, for whatever reason (good or bad), he made sure you knew it. He was a kind man with a gentle smile. If he were walking down a hall, nearly every student he passed would say, "Hi, Mr. Keyes!"
Mr. Keyes touched many lives as he devoted his life to service. I always respected the man, but even more so as I learned more about his story. In high school, I did know he was in WWII and had something to do with liberating a concentration camp, and if I remember correctly, he came in and spoke to us about his experience in a history class. However, as kids, we generally don't appreciate what past experiences truly mean. Most of us had grandparents who had been in WWII, and to us, WWII was just a few chapters in our history books and the subject of some old black-and-white movies our fathers and/or grandfathers liked to watch. We grew up with "Rambo," "The A-Team," and other such shows and movies that focused more on Vietnam veterans, a more "colorized" war that many of our parents either fought in or protested. WWII seemed so far away to us.
It does not escape me that this man passed in the middle of Black History Month, especially when he contributed so much to Black History. Nor does it escape me that he passed a few days before another Civil Rights Activist, Rev. Jesse Jackson (and I would not be surprised if those two men had met one another when they were alive). His 104 years were definitely a life well-lived. His memory will live on, especially in the Annapolis, MD and Anne Arundel County communities. Rest in peace, sir. I am truly blessed, and a better person for having known you.
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If you want to learn more about this man and his life, here are some links:
https://thelogbookproject.com/william-billy-keyes/
https://www.wmar2news.com/local/103-year-old-wwii-vet-honored-at-os-park-for-his-historical-time-in-the-army
