Frank Ray Keyser Sr. (September 29, 1898 – March 7, 2001) was an American politician, lawyer, and judge from

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the ...

. He was a lawyer in private practice and later a justice of the

Vermont Supreme Court The Vermont Supreme Court is the highest judicial authority of the U.S. state of Vermont. Unlike most other states, the Vermont Supreme Court hears appeals directly from the trial courts, as Vermont has no intermediate appeals court. The Cou ...

. His son F. Ray Keyser Jr. served as

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** In ...

of the

Vermont House of Representatives The Vermont House of Representatives is the lower house of the Vermont General Assembly, the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Vermont. The House comprises 150 members, with each member representing around 4 ...

and later as

governor of Vermont The governor of Vermont is the head of government of Vermont. The officeholder is elected in even-numbered years by direct voting for a term of 2 years. Vermont and bordering New Hampshire are the only states to hold gubernatorial elections every ...

Early life

Keyser was born on September 29, 1898, in

Woodsville, New Hampshire Woodsville is a census-designated place (CDP) and the largest village in the town of Haverhill in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States, along the Connecticut River at the mouth of the Ammonoosuc River. The population was 1,431 at the 202 ...

, the son of Winifred S. and Harriett (Bailey) Keyser.Obituary: F. Ray Keyser Sr.
''Randolph Herald'', March 15, 2001. He graduated from high school in Woodsville in 1917 and studied at

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learnin ...

while enrolled in the

Student Army Training Corps The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC ( or )) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. Overview While ROTC graduate officers serve in all ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

.One of the Finest
''Randolph Herald'', March 15, 2001.

Start of career

After being discharged, Keyser attended

Norwich University Norwich University – The Military College of Vermont is a private senior military college in Northfield, Vermont. It is the oldest private and senior military college in the United States and offers bachelor's and master's degrees on-cam ...

from 1919 to 1920, and became a banker in

Wells River Wells River is a village in the town of Newbury in Orange County, Vermont, United States. The population was 431 at the 2020 census. The village center is located at the junction of U.S. Routes 5 and 302. The village center (the portion near t ...

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament const ...

and

Lyndonville, Vermont Lyndonville is a village in the town of Lyndon, in Caledonia County, Vermont, United States. Lyndonville's population was 1,136 at the 2020 census. It is the closest community to the Lyndon campus of Northern Vermont University. History In 1883 ...

, and then a schoolteacher in Chelsea. He studied law part-time with

Stanley C. Wilson Stanley Calef Wilson (September 10, 1879 – October 5, 1967) was an American politician, attorney, and businessman from Vermont. He served as the 57th lieutenant governor of Vermont from 1929 to 1931 and the 62nd governor of Vermont from 1931 ...

, was

admitted to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

in 1929, and practiced in Chelsea as Wilson's law partner. Wilson and Keyser later partnered with Deane C. Davis, and J. Ward Carver, and their firm was referred to as the state's greatest-ever collection of legal talent, in that it included two governors (Wilson and Davis), a

Vermont Attorney General The Vermont Attorney General is a statewide elected executive official in the U.S. state of Vermont who is elected every two years. It was created by an act of the Vermont General Assembly in 1790, repealed in 1797, and revived in 1904. The office ...

(Carver), and an associate justice of the

(Keyser).

Continued career

Keyser held many local offices, serving as school director, selectman,

town moderator Town meeting is a form of local government in which most or all of the members of a community are eligible to legislate policy and budgets for local government. It is a town- or city-level meeting in which decisions are made, in contrast with ...

auditor An auditor is a person or a firm appointed by a company to execute an audit.Practical Auditing, Kul Narsingh Shrestha, 2012, Nabin Prakashan, Nepal To act as an auditor, a person should be certified by the regulatory authority of accounting an ...

tax collector A tax collector (also called a taxman) is a person who collects unpaid taxes from other people or corporations. The term could also be applied to those who audit tax returns. Tax collectors are often portrayed as being evil, and in the modern ...

, town counsel, and fire district committee member. He was elected in 1936 and 1938 to the

. Keyser also served as

Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...

State's Attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a ...

, Secretary of Civil and Military Affairs (chief assistant) to Governor Lee E. Emerson, and (during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

) chief enforcement officer for the federal

Office of Price Administration The Office of Price Administration (OPA) was established within the Office for Emergency Management of the United States government by Executive Order 8875 on August 28, 1941. The functions of the OPA were originally to control money ( price con ...

. Keyser served as president of the Vermont Bar Association, and was a member of the local American Legion post and

Masonic Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

lodge.

Judicial career

In October 1956, Governor Joseph B. Johnson appointed Keyser to the Superior Court. Keyser's son F. Ray Keyser Jr. became governor of Vermont in 1961. Keyser Sr. administered the

oath of office An oath of office is an oath or affirmation a person takes before assuming the duties of an office, usually a position in government or within a religious body, although such oaths are sometimes required of officers of other organizations. Suc ...

to his son, the only time this has occurred in Vermont history. After eight years on the Superior Court bench, Keyser was appointed to the Vermont Supreme Court in October 1964, filling the vacancy caused when Associate Justice

Harold C. Sylvester Harold C. Sylvester (April 27, 1903 – July 15, 1988) was a Vermont attorney, politician, and judge. He was most notable for his long service on the Vermont Superior Court, and as an associate justice of the Vermont Supreme Court from 1963 to 19 ...

requested to return to the superior court bench. Keyser served on the Supreme Court for eleven years, until he reached the mandatory retirement age in 1974.

Later life

After leaving the Supreme Court in 1975, Keyser continued to occasionally serve as a specially assigned judge for the Superior Court for almost twenty-five years, until he reached the age of eighty-eight, and continued practicing law until the age of ninety-five. In August 1979, Governor

Richard A. Snelling Richard Arkwright Snelling (February 18, 1927August 13, 1991) was an American businessman and politician. He was most notable for his service as the 76th and 78th governor of Vermont from 1977 to 1985 and from January 10, 1991, until his death ...

appointed Keyser to lead the "Keyser Commission" to investigate the

Vermont State Police The Vermont State Police (VSP) is the state police agency for the US state of Vermont. The force has jurisdiction throughout the entire state. The Vermont Public Safety Commission directs policy and selects the commander. The commander is Colone ...

after a series of misconduct scandals; the commission's April 1980 criticized the state police's internal affairs investigations and recommended changes to the Department of Public Safety.Sylvia J. Bugbee, Router Bit Affair, ''Vermont Encyclopedia'', University of Vermont Press, 2003, p. 253.

Death and burial

Keyser died on March 7, 2001, in

Rutland Rutland () is a ceremonial county and unitary authority in the East Midlands, England. The county is bounded to the west and north by Leicestershire, to the northeast by Lincolnshire and the southeast by Northamptonshire. Its greatest l ...

, at the age of 102. He was buried at Highland Cemetery in Chelsea.

Family

Keyser married Ellen Larkin of Chelsea on July 2, 1921; she died in 1976 after 55 years of marriage. Keyser married Ruby Hackett of Tunbridge on January 8, 1977. She died in June 1999, after 21 years of marriage. His children included son F. Ray Keyser Jr., daughter Natalie Keyser Niles, and step-daughter, Elaine R. Cilley. Keyser was a lifelong fan of the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eig ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keyser, Frank Ray Sr. 1898 births 2001 deaths American centenarians Men centenarians Republican Party members of the Vermont House of Representatives Norwich University alumni People from Woodsville, New Hampshire People from Chelsea, Vermont Vermont lawyers State's attorneys in Vermont Vermont state court judges U.S. state supreme court judges admitted to the practice of law by reading law Burials in Vermont United States Army personnel of World War I United States Army soldiers 20th-century American judges 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American lawyers