Christoph Keller Jr.

Keller was born on December 22, 1915 in Bay City, Michigan, son of the Reverend Christoph Keller and Margaret Ely Walter. He graduated from Washington and Lee University with a Bachelor of Arts in 1939, and was awarded a Doctor of Divinity in 1973. The University of the South also awarded him a Doctor of Divinity in 1968. During World War II he served in the Marine Corps, and then entered business. He studied at the General Theological Seminary, graduating with a Bachelor of Divinity in 1957, and earning a Doctor of Sacred Theology in 1968. He married Caroline P. Murphy on June 22, 1940, and together had six children.[2]

Keller was ordained deacon on July 11, 1956 at St Mary's Church in El Dorado, Arkansas by Bishop R. Bland Mitchell of Arkansas.[3] He was then ordained priest on March 25, 1957 by Bishop Robert R. Brown.[4] In 1957, he became vicar of St James' Church in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, St John's Church in Harrison, Arkansas, and St Andrew's Church in Mountain Home, Arkansas, where he remained until 1962. In 1962, he became rector of St Andrew's Church in Jackson, Mississippi, and became its first dean when the church became a cathedral in 1966.[5]

Keller was elected Coadjutor Bishop of Arkansas on June 28, 1967, during the 95th diocesan convention held in Trinity Cathedral.[6] He was consecrated on October 17, 1967 in Trinity Cathedral, by the Presiding Bishop, John E. Hines. [7] He succeeded as diocesan bishop on November 1, 1970. He retired in 1981. Keller died in Alexandria, Louisiana, on May 19, 1995, following a long illness.