CCHS Alumni Database Header

Columbia City High School
Alumni Database

HOME

* = Has Email

** = Deceased

UPDATE ENTRY	UPLOAD PHOTOS	ADD A NAME	WEBMASTER
MAIN INDEX	CLASS OF 1930	CLASS MEMORIES	REUNION INFO


Name:	Lloyd Alton Keisler
Spouse:	June Lucille Keisler
Address
	Bloomington, IN
Phone Number
Email Address
Personal Website
Class of	1930	Attended from through
Graduated Here?	Yes
If graduated elsewhere, graduated from:
College Attended:

Birthdate:	November 17, 1912
Date of Death:	,

Current Occupation:

Notes:	Lloyd Alton Keisler was born in Whitley County, Indiana, on November 17, 1912, son of Harry and Mary Frances (Bills) Keisler. He died at Meadowood [Bloomington, Indiana] on December 31, 2008. He is survived by daughters Susan Gray and Rebecca (Becky) Lee, sons-in-law David Gray and Richard Lee, grandchildren Tony Lee and wife Trish, Rob Lee and wife Ann, and Nick Lee, and great-granddaughters Brittany Edwards and Abigail June Lee. He was predeceased in 2004 by his wife of 64 years, June Lucille Keisler. He is also survived by his sister-in-law, Ruthann Keisler, and nephews Jeffrey and Chris Keisler and families. He was predeceased by his brother Paul Keisler and by his infant brother, Kenneth. Lloyd grew up in Columbia City, Indiana, graduating from Columbia City High School. He attended Indiana University from 1931-35, graduating with a degree in business and attended IU Law School for two semesters. He was a member of ROTC and the Pershing Rifles while an undergraduate at IU and was commissioned at 2nd Lt. in the U.S. Army Reserve in 1935. Lloyd began working for Indiana University in 1938 as assistant cashier and assistant ticket manager, and retired as controller in 1976. While working as assistant cashier at IU in 1939, he met his future wife when she was treasurer for the Association of Women Students. Lloyd married June L. Hiatt on September 1, 1940. On December 7, 1941, they were living in Louisiana, where Lloyd was on active duty training with the Army. When war was declared, Lloyd was ordered to active duty and his Signal Corps battalion was sent to Europe on one of the first U.S. troop ships in February, 1942. He served in Northern Ireland, the invasion of North Africa (Algiers), Italy, London, and his unit accompanied General Dwight D. Eisenhower's headquarters after the D-Day invasion through France and Germany. He was cleared to leave Europe in August 1945 and was finally discharged from army service on January 25, 1946, with the rank of Lt. Colonel. While Lloyd was serving in the European Theater, his wife, June, was serving with the Women's Army Corps in the Pacific; Lloyd and June spent 45 months on opposite sides of the world. Each repeatedly requested transfer to the other theater. Lloyd served a total of 3 years, 6 months overseas. His decorations include a Bronze Star. Lloyd continued to serve in the Army Reserve, teaching the Command and General Staff class for 5 years, and retired with the rank of Colonel in 1972. After WWII, Lloyd returned to Bloomington and to his job at IU. He was ticket manager for all events, and then assistant controller for many years, ending his IU career as controller. While working for IU, he revised the structure and operation of the IU accounting system to comply with national standards and converted the IU financial records from keyboard bookkeeping machines to IBM punch card operation. He conducted research for the National Association of College and University Business Officers and the report his committee submitted resulted in legislation that established the first federal student loan program. Currently thousands of students are using this program to pay for their college education. Lloyd and June were founding members of the Bloomington Unitarian Church, and Lloyd served as chairman of the building committee for the present church building. Lloyd was an original member of the Monroe County Parks Board, serving as chairman for many years, and planned, obtained financing and supervised the development of Karst Farm Park. He was also active in the Monroe Soil and Water Conservation District and served as board member for many years. June and Lloyd owned the Keisler Tree Farm in western Monroe County. He relocated a log cabin onto the land, established two ponds and worked many weekends planting trees and doing timber-stand improvement with June. He bought and operated a portable sawmill and sawed noncommercial timber. They were recognized as Tree Farmers of the Year in 1977 by the Louisville Courier-Journal. They summered in the log house at High Water Hill, and Fourth of July picnics at the tree farm became annual events for their Bloomington neighborhood. And in 1999, the Keisler Tree Farm became the first forest land in Indiana to be entered into the Federal Forestry Legacy Program. Lloyd and June also hosted other groups at the tree farm, such as overnights by Girl Scout troops, meetings of Indiana University employees and families from payroll, accounting and other departments, and visits from organizations that June and Lloyd supported. Once there was a visit of a church-sponsored group of inner city Chicago children, who delighted in pole fishing in the two ponds. Lloyd and June enjoyed tent camping and later Airstream traveling over the U.S., Canada and Mexico. After Lloyd's retirement, they traveled the world, with extended visits such as three months in Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand, and two months traveling around South America. They also visited England, Turkey, Japan, China, Russia, India and more. June kept trip diaries covering 75 countries which fill two file drawers. Lloyd kept a world map with pins showing the places they had traveled. Lloyd and June moved to Meadowood in 1999. Published in The Bloomington Herald-Times, Jan 4, 2008.

Last Updated:	10-09-2018		Alumni ID:	11087

Database Footer

Class Coordinators needed. If your class does not have a Class Coordinator listed with its officers, you can volunteer by clicking here: webmaster@cchsaa.org. For more info, click here