Church couple marks century
A service will be held at Southwell Minster tomorrow for a couple who between them have served 100 years in the Church of England.
Canon David Keene (76) and his wife, the Rev Muriel Keene (72) will be joined at the service by about 200 family, friends and people they have worked with over the years.
It is 50 years since Mr Keene was made deacon and 50 years since Mrs Keene was commissioned as a Church Army sister.
In 1994, Mrs Keene was one of the first women to be ordained priest in the Southwell Diocese.
The service will be taken by the precentor, Canon Jacqui Jones, and the preacher will be a retired Bishop of Southwark, the Right Rev Roy Williamson.
Mr Keene said: “For us, the service is about thanking God for all the opportunities in ministry and the fantastic people we have met over the years and for giving us the health and ability to do it.”
The couple met when Mr Keene was the Vicar of St Catharine’s Church, Nottingham, and Mrs Keene was working with unmarried mothers with the Board of Moral Welfare.
Mr Keane said St Catharine’s was also home to the Russian Orthodox Church, the Greek Orthodox Church, a West Indian Pentecostal Church — and the church hall housed the Mosque.
He said the imam was a good friend and they used to pray together.
He said the Christians and Muslims were great friends and it was sad that there were now tensions between them.
The couple married at St Catharine’s on December 27, 1968 — and will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary this year.
Mr Keene was made deacon in 1958 and was ordained priest at Southwell Minster the following year.
He was the curate at Radcliffe with Shelford from 1958-61 and was the Rector of Bingham from 1971-81.
He became precentor and parish priest at Southwell Minster in 1981, where he remained until his retirement in 1997.
Mrs Keene began training for the Church Army in 1955 and was commissioned as a Church Army sister in 1958.
In 1960, she became a parish worker at St John’s, Lowestoft, in charge of St Andrew’s where she did everything apart from give Holy Communion.
Mrs Keene was made deaconess in 1983 and deacon in 1987 when she was the deacon in charge of Epperstone, Gonalston, Oxton, Bilsthorpe, Eakring, Winkburn, Kneesall, Laxton and Wellow.
She was ordained priest in 1994 when she was the associate priest of St Mary the Virgin at Lowdham with Gunthorpe and Caythorpe until she retired about five years ago.
Mrs Keene said one of the biggest changes she had seen over the years was that the church was no longer a way of life for people.
“Although people are not anti-church they do not automatically walk through the door,” she said. “You have to search them out and then they come.”
The couple, who live on Church Lane, Averham, still help at St Michael and All Angels’ Church, Averham, and conduct weddings, funerals and baptisms in the diocese most weeks.
Mrs Keene said they had no plans to retire fully.
“We keep saying we are going to but we don’t,” she said.
“We have still got a lot of ministry ahead if we wanted to.”
Mr Keene married two of the couple’s children, Mr Patrick Keene (38) of Newbury, and Mrs Sarah Webb (33) of Newark.
Their other son, Mr Dunstan Keene (36) lives in Switzerland. Mrs Keene baptised their two grandchildren, Lachlan Keene (18 months) and Megan Webb (18 months).
Mr Keene is a member of Southwell Theatre Club and will play the part of a detective in Heirs And Disgraces, a murder mystery, at Rolleston Village Hall next month. He is also a member of the Robin Hood Theatre, Averham.
Mrs Keene enjoys gardening, visiting their son in Switzerland, spending time with their grandchildren, knitting and embroidery.
