Dr. Vincent Alvin Keesee died peacefully in his sleep on March 9, 2021, with Marianna, his wife of 52 years, sitting by his side. A private family funeral service will be held for Dr. Keesee at 11:00 a.m. Friday, March 12, 2021, at Tifton's First United Methodist Church with the Rev. Chip Grantham officiating. The service will be livestreamed on YouTube-First United Methodist Church. Dr. Keesee will be laid to rest at Oak Ridge Cemetery.
Vincent was born in Campbell County, Virginia on March 17, 1935. He was one of eight children born to Robert Brown and Viola Hall Keesee. Vincent graduated from Altavista High School in Altavista, VA in 1952. He received his B.A. from Richmond Professional Institute a Division of the College of William and Mary, now known as Virginia Commonwealth University in 1956. After working in graphic art and design for several years, he entered the University of Georgia and received an MFA in 1965 and a Ph.D. in art criticism in 1972. Before returning to UGA to receive his Ph.D., Vincent accepted a teaching position at Abraham Baldwin College in Tifton, GA. In 1967, a local elementary school teacher and amateur painter, Marian Girtman, took one of Vincent’s evening painting classes. She determined that the bachelor art instructor would be the perfect choice for her daughter, Marianna Girtman, and introduced the two. The couple were married in 1968 and enjoyed 52 happy years together.
Vincent taught art and humanities classes at Abraham Baldwin College for thirty years until his retirement in 1995. During his long tenure, he formed many lasting friendships with fellow faculty and influenced multiple generations of students. He delighted in instructing students of all levels: teaching parents and then years later their teenage children; introducing novice students to the arts; nurturing and guiding gifted young artists. In addition to his teaching career, Vincent was a celebrated painter who exhibited at many regional shows in Georgia, Alabama, and Virginia. Vincent’s figurative paintings reflect all aspects of southern culture. He found inspiration in the music, landscape, religion, and culture of the American South and depicted these with great expression and innate affection. In 1988, Governor Joe Frank Harris awarded Vincent the Georgia Governor’s Award in the Arts, stating: “because of him, literally hundreds of children, young people and adults in rural South Georgia have come to appreciate and understand the value of the visual arts.” Vincent wrote, illustrated, and published several books, including Vittles and Viands: Facts and Lore about Traditional Cooking, and the definitive biography of his family, The Keesee Family in Pittsylvania County Virginia. Most recently he published Hallelujah: A Lifetime of Paintings by Vincent A. Keesee in 2020.
Vincent enjoyed many dear and lasting friendships with his weekly men’s bridge club and a couples’ group with whom he played bridge, attended football games and dinner parties, and traveled across the country. He was a longtime member of The First United Methodist Church. In his later years, Vincent was able to realize his desire to return to his native Virginia, which always maintained its position as “God’s country” in his estimation. He and Marianna built a vacation home on the Matapponi River which served as a gathering place for many Keesee family celebrations and holidays. They were delighted to host many Tifton friends at their river home and enjoyed making new friendships in Virginia.
Vincent is predeceased by his parents and three siblings, Robert Brown Keesee Jr., Rawley Brown Keesee, and Rebecca Keesee Dillard. His is survived by his devoted wife Marianna Girtman Keesee, son Vincent Alvin Keesee Jr., daughter Ashley Keesee Tunner (William), two beloved grandchildren, William Keesee Tunner and Celia Sams Tunner, sisters Fern Holley, Joyce Stein and Dorothy Lawler, twin brother Vernon Calvin Keesee, and numerous nephews and nieces.
In lieu of flowers, those who desire to do so are encouraged to make memorial donations to the First United Methodist Church of Tifton or the Marian Girtman Art Scholarship at Abraham Baldwin College, a fund that Vincent created in 1982 to award deserving art students financial support to pursue their educational goals.