Anne Arundel County school remembers beloved substitute teacher

An Anne Arundel County school is remembering a longtime substitute teacher who retired at 99 and died last weekend at 104.

William Keyes was a substitute teacher at South River High School for more than 30 years before he retired at the age of 99. He died on Valentine's Day at 104 years old.

He was a World War II veteran, an artist and an educator beloved by students and teachers. 

William Keyes left his mark

Keyes was an icon at South River High School.

"He was quite a legend through the halls here," said Yolanda Cannon, behavior support educator.

"Larger than life," added social studies teacher Ian Goodwin.

For more than three decades, Keyes was everyone's favorite substitute teacher.

"He treated every single person as if you were his best friend," said teacher Josh Carroll, who is also the Wounded Warrior Club Advisor.

Keyes' approach with students was unconventional. He was known for threatening to throw students out the window, but it worked.

"He would meet the kids on their level," said AP English teacher Iris Crankfield. "Him saying he would throw them out the window was a term of endearment. They wanted him to say that. That was how he built a friendship and got them to do the work."

Military history

Long before he was an educator, Keyes was a hero.

Keyes was born in 1921. When he was 23, he was drafted into the U.S. Army during World War II. He was a member of the all-Black 761st Tank Battalion.

"When he served, it was a segregated military," Carroll said. "I think that opened up our students' eyes to how much change that he saw in his lifetime."

Teachers at South River said Keyes was like a walking history book.

"When you were looking at World War II, he'd been there," Goodwin said. "When you were looking at the Civil Rights Movement, he'd lived through it. He knew history because he was history."

A passion for art

Keyes preserved much of his own history through his art.

"A lot of his art was based on what he saw around him and what he lived," said family friend Caroline Sears.

Sears knew Keyes since she was 2 years old after he befriended her mom Jen, who works in the art department at South River.

"He was social, he was funny, witty and quick with it," Sears said.

Keyes was still sharp even after he retired at 99 years old. 

Sears said he attributed that to journaling every day,

"He would draw cartoons in the margins, he would cut out newspaper articles, pictures and put them in there," Sears said.

Keyes never stopped creating and he never stopped learning. 

Passing on the story

This Black History Month, his former colleagues are making sure to tell his story.

"I think it's important for our students to know about him and his history," Keyes said.

Keyes had a story of living life to the fullest.

"I think we take a lot of things for granted, life for granted, or what we can get accomplished in our time here and he maximized that by giving to people in a lot of different ways," Crankfield said.

Keyes also gave a lot to the community outside of school. He was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated and sat on the board of the Banneker-Douglass-Tubman Museum in Annapolis.