LOUIS L. KEEFE – Born of a family that for generations has made its home in Massachusetts, Louis L. Keefe, today the mayor of Westfield, Massachusetts, was born in Ontario, Canada, but being of American parentage, is naturally a native born citizen. Reared and educated in Westfield, which has always been the family home, he started in his business career on the completion of his education, and after learning thoroughly the business that he had decided to follow, he very early made a start for himself, under his own name, and he has carried his establishment to a fine point of efficiency and usefulness to his locality. A man of breadth of outlook, he always took an interest in public matters and affairs, and it has been a natural development that he has been called upon to serve his community in official capacity. This he has done officially for the past decade, in one capacity or another, until in 1923 he was elected to his present high position in the community, and reelected to that incumbency again in 1925. He is a man who is deeply interested in the progressive welfare of his city, and is affiliated with organized endeavor in many fields; he holds membership in civic, fraternal and church organizations, and is active in promoting the advancement of thought in all affairs that tend to the betterment of conditions and the human welfare of his center. Starting out in life with the high ambition to be of service to his fellowmen, through every adventure in the business world and in his social occupations, Mr. Keefe has not lost sight of his goal, and so he has been called to a larger service of his fellows. As Henry Van Dyke has so beautifully said:
Life is an arrow-therefore you must know
What mark to aim at, how to use the bow
Then draw it to the head and let it go.
This Mayor Keefe has done, and he has earned his esteemed place in the hearts and minds of the people he is serving.
Louis L. Keefe was born September 17, 1870, at Ingersoll, Ontario, Canada, son of Cornelius and Ellen (Carey) Keefe. His father was born in Westfield, Massachusetts, and his mother was a native of Albany, New York, both deceased. His father was a well-known cigar maker in the city where the family have always made their home. The son was educated in the public schools of Westfield, and upon graduation, started in the plumbing and heating business. By the time he was twenty-six years old he was in business for himself, in which he has continued up to the present time (1925). Mr. Keefe is one of the leading Democrats in the State of Massachusetts, being elected as Mayor of his city in 1922, and reelected again in 1924. He was elected a member of the Board of Selectmen in 1916, where he remained four years. He can always be depended upon to take interest in everything which pertains to the civic uplift of the town, and no worthy cause suffers for lack of his attention. He is a most conscientious executive and has fostered many a movement to put Westfield in the vanguard of progress. He holds membership in the Loyal Order of Moose; the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; the Improved Order of Redmen; and is prominent in the work of the Chamber of Commerce. He is a communicant of St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church of Westfield.
Louis L. Keefe married, on February 8, 1898, at Westfield, Annie C. Travers, a native of that city, daughter of Bernard Travers, born in Boston, Massachusetts. They are the parents of five children: 1. Alice. 2. Daniel. 3. Irving. 4. Robert. 5. Anna. All of the children were born in Westfield.
