| |
| |
|
|
R E S O L U T I O N
|
|
|
WHEREAS, Keith Keller of the Allen Keller Company has made |
|
|
invaluable contributions to the Lone Star State during his many |
|
|
years in highway construction; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, This esteemed Texan follows in the footsteps of his |
|
|
father, Allen Keller, who began his career as a field clerk with |
|
|
William Thornton in 1932 and went on to start two highway |
|
|
construction businesses; he established the first in 1946 in |
|
|
partnership with former Associated General Contractors president |
|
|
Doc Killian, and he founded the second, the Allen Keller Company, in |
|
|
Fredericksburg in 1953; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Keith Keller joined his father's business after |
|
|
earning an engineering degree from The University of Texas at |
|
|
Austin in 1964, and he became the company's president on April 1, |
|
|
1977; under his leadership, the Allen Keller Company received |
|
|
recognition for its drill-and-shoot and limestone-crushing |
|
|
techniques and was given responsibility for several of the most |
|
|
dramatic road cuts on I-10 between Austin and El Paso; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, When President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Executive |
|
|
Order 11246, prohibiting employment discrimination in federally |
|
|
funded construction contracts, Keith Keller and his |
|
|
brother-in-law, James Kemp, helped coordinate efforts between the |
|
|
Federal Highway Administration, the Texas Department of |
|
|
Transportation, and construction companies in the hiring and |
|
|
training of minority Texans; this initiative resulted in more than |
|
|
10,000 individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds finding gainful |
|
|
employment in the industry; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Respected and admired by his peers, Mr. Keller was |
|
|
elected president of the Associated General Contractors of Texas in |
|
|
1986, an office his father had held a quarter-century earlier; in |
|
|
this role, Keith Keller worked tirelessly to foster a rapport |
|
|
between the AGC of Texas and the members of the Texas Legislature, |
|
|
and the association's board of directors awarded him lifetime |
|
|
membership following his retirement in 2015; he has also served on |
|
|
the board of directors of the Security State Bank and Trust for more |
|
|
than three decades; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, In all of his endeavors, Mr. Keller enjoys the love |
|
|
and support of his wife, the former Marjorie Ann Alberthal, whom he |
|
|
married on June 8, 1963, at Holy Ghost Lutheran Church in |
|
|
Fredericksburg; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Over the past five decades, this consummate |
|
|
professional has excelled in the highway construction industry, and |
|
|
he can reflect with great pride on his outstanding record of |
|
|
achievement; now, therefore, be it |
|
|
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 84th Texas |
|
|
Legislature hereby honor Keith Keller for his many years of service |
|
|
to the highway construction industry and extend to him sincere best |
|
|
wishes for the future; and, be it further |
|
|
RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be |
|
|
prepared for Mr. Keller as an expression of high regard by the Texas |
|
|
House of Representatives. |