Oral history with Jeremiah J. O'Keefe

              Oral history with Jeremiah J. O'Keefe
F341.5 . M57 vol. 747, pt. 1
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Biography
Mr. Jeremiah O'Keefe was born in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, on July 12, 1923. His parents were J. Ben O'Keefe and Teresa Slattery O'Keefe. He was the second of four children and attended St. Alphonsus Catholic School. With his family, he moved to Biloxi at age thirteen because the home he was born in and lived in was lost to the family during the Depression.
Mr. O'Keefe attended Sacred Heart Academy for high school. During his senior year, he was co- captain of the football team. When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, he was attending Soulè Business College. He quickly entered the U. S. Navy and received his wings in the U. S. Marine Corps in May, 1943. Having shot down seven Japanese airplanes, he became an Ace Fighter Pilot. Following World War II, he obtained a degree in Business Administration and went to work with his father in the O'Keefe Funeral Home in Biloxi.
In 1954, Mr. O'Keefe was selected Outstanding Young Man of the year and later the Outstanding Citizen. He was elected to the Mississippi State Legislature and served one four- year term. In 1973, he was elected mayor of Biloxi and served eight years.
He and his wife Annette Saxon O'Keefe have thirteen children, forty- three grandchildren, and three great- grandchildren.
Mr. O'Keefe has been active in civic affairs and political activities his entire life. He and his wife established the O'Keefe Charitable Foundation. Additionally, they founded Gulf National Life Insurance Company to sell policies primarily designed to pay final funeral expenses. Mr. O'Keefe acquired a number of other smaller companies and Gulf National became the largest such insurer in Mississippi with over 200 affiliated funeral homes.
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