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Baxley Wilderness

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Che Gookin:
My information is developing, this place is definitely of interest to me now. Will be doing my best to dig deeper. Something is not right about it, not at all right.

Ursus:

--- Quote from: "Che Gookin" ---My information is developing, this place is definitely of interest to me now. Will be doing my best to dig deeper. Something is not right about it, not at all right.
--- End quote ---
The very existence of the Georgia Wilderness Institutes is very much tied to original AMIkids founder Ollie Keller, who is politically more than well-connected. Keller used to head the Illinois Youth Commission and later the Florida Division of Youth Services. While he was still in Illinois, Keller also founded the Boys Farm, a "residential program for boys and alternative to state correction facilities."

Ursus:
Oliver J. Keller passed away not too long ago; a few obituaries follow... This first one is from Georgia Battlefields, an organization he was involved with for some time:

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March 2008
http://www.georgiabattlefields.org
GEORGIA  BATTLEFIELDS
Published by Georgia Battlefields Association, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to preservation of Georgia's Civil War history and sites. Contact newsletter editor by e-mail: http://www.ajc.com/search/content/metro ... _0217.html.

A memorial service was held on 25 February at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Atlanta.

Send condolences to the Keller family at 1150 Peachtree Battle Ave NW, Atlanta GA 30327.

Send donations in Olly's memory to:
- Georgia Battlefields Association, 7 Camden Rd NE, Atlanta GA 30309; or to
- Georgia Wilderness Institutes, c/o Sherri Ulleg, Associated Marine Institutes,
5915 Benjamin Center Dr, Tampa FL 33634.
Olly's preservation and humanitarian work has been recognized with several awards, but many of his efforts were behind the scenes, and his contributions are incalculable. We have lost a great leader, mentor, and friend.


# #

Ursus:
And here's another obituary, this one from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

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ATLANTA
Oliver James Keller, 84, followed Lincoln's steps as justice advocate
By DREW JUBERA
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 02/17/08

Oliver James Keller Jr., "definitely a Union man" in the words of a fellow Civil War buff, devoted much of his time and wide-ranging intellect to preserving Georgia battle sites.

"He had a strong belief in the justice of the Northern cause," said Henry Howell, a member of the Georgia Battlefields Association, of which Mr. Keller was a founder. "His greatest hero was Abraham Lincoln, and some are not surprised he departed this world on Lincoln's birthday. He admired Lincoln's sense of justice."
 
Mr. Keller died Feb. 12 at age 84 from heart failure. He broke a hip in January when he fell while attending a meeting of the Atlanta Civil War Round Table. That night's topic: Lincoln.

Yet Mr. Keller's sense of justice went far beyond Civil War history. He was a powerful advocate for issues related to juvenile offenders, as well as affordable housing.

He was a founder of the Georgia Wilderness Institute, a nonprofit organization that provides alternatives to incarceration for young offenders. In 1973, he was appointed Florida's secretary of Health and Rehabilitative Services.

"Our country is very shortsighted when dealing with juvenile offenders," Mr. Keller wrote in a letter to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 1999. He'd moved to Atlanta after President Carter appointed him to the U.S. Parole Commission.

"Instead of spending tax dollars for prevention and alternative punishments, we ignore the danger signs until a crime has occurred," Mr. Keller continued. "Prevention programs work."

At 6 feet 4 inches tall, with a stentorian voice, Mr. Keller was at once a commanding and personable presence. Raised in Pittsburgh, where his father was editor of the Post-Gazette, Mr. Keller visited Gettysburg as a teenager and it "just blew his mind," said his wife of 56 years, Joan Dixon Keller. He later memorized the Gettysburg Address and kept a copy over his desk.

"He believed that you understand what happened at a site better if you can actually see the ground," said Charles Crawford, president of the Georgia Battlefields Association. "He believed it makes you a better citizen if you understand your own history."

His own wartime experiences came during two stints in the Navy.

He was navigator of an LST carrier in the Pacific during World War II and the Korean War.

His bachelor's degree from Williams College was completed between those wars.

Mr. Keller then worked at a Springfield, Ill., radio station his father bought. He became a disc jockey, among other duties, and was known on-air as "OJ the DJ."

He helped troubled teens who came by, many of them listeners, and founded a residential facility for at-risk kids. The governor appointed him chairman of the Illinois Youth Commission.

Among his other passions: jazz piano and 1939 Cadillacs. "He was never greatly skilled," his wife allowed, "but he got pleasure playing one great song after another."

Mr. Keller is also survived by daughters Alison Townsend of Barrington, R.I., and Louisa Paige of Boston; a brother, Daniel Keller, of Davis, Calif., and six grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held Feb. 25 at 11 a.m. at St. Luke's Episcopal Church, 435 Peachtree St., N.E., Atlanta.


© 2010 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Ursus:
From a previous post:

--- Quote ---Following his passion for assisting young people who were in trouble, he moved into government positions responsible for helping juveniles. Ollie became Chairman of the Illinois Youth Commission, President of the Springfield Board of Education and founder of the Boys Farm, a residential program for boys and alternative to state correction facilities.
--- End quote ---
The Illinois residential program for boys that Oliver Keller helped found, then known as Boys Farm, is now known as Rutledge Youth Foundation.

 From their 'About Us' page:

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About Rutledge Youth Foundation

Our Mission Statement: To assist abused and neglected youth in becoming productive, independent members of society.

Rutledge Youth Foundation was Founded in 1952 as Boy's Farm.

The Agency began when a group of prominent citizens, headed by O. J. Keller, Jr., decided that there needed to be a place in the Springfield area that was an alternative to the Department of Corrections for teens who were experiencing minor problems with the Law. While visiting a boys school in the Chicago area Mr. Keller met Mr. Martin Willard, who later became the first superintendent at Boys Farm in 1952.

After its establishment in Buffalo, Illinois, Boys Farm quickly grew from serving 8 boys to serving 16.

In 1979, the Agency Board of Directors moved the Agency to Springfield and began serving both boys and girls. Since then, the services offered by the Agency have changed to meet the growing needs in the community.  The same traditional values taught to the boys at Boys Farm are still being taught to the youth at Rutledge Youth Foundation.  The primary focus of services is protecting youth and teaching adolescent boys and girls independent living skills so that they become productive members of society.

The Rutledge Youth Foundation serves approximately 300 abused/neglected teens annually between the ages of 0 and 21.  The services provided to these teens as well as the ways in which you can become involved with the Agency are detailed further on this Web Site.

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