Former Austin Mayor Carole Keeton dies at 85

AUSTIN – The Austin American-Statesman reports that Trailblazing former Austin Mayor and Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton died around noon Wednesday at her home in Tarrytown, her son Brad McClellan confirmed to the American-Statesman. She was 85. “Mom was first in a lot of things — first woman mayor of Austin, first woman comptroller, but first of all she was a mom and a grandma,” said McClellan, an Austin lawyer. “Always the most important things were her sons — my brothers — and her grandkids. There’s no question about that.” Mayor Kirk Watson said Keeton’s imprint on Austin and on Texas is lasting and genuine. “Carole Keeton was a historic figure in Austin and the state,” said Watson, whose first stint as mayor came after Keeton was the first woman to hold that office. “Importantly, she gave so much of herself to the city and state she loved and to the people both as a community and individually.”

Before serving as Austin’s mayor from 1977 to1983, Keeton was the first woman to preside over the Austin school board. And after her city service, she was three times elected to statewide office. “She was a powerful personality that filled a room and pushed people to think about the future but also made you laugh at the drop of a hat,” Watson said. Keeton, who also was known as Carole Keeton, Carole Keeton McClellan, Carole Keeton Rylander and Carole Keeton Strayhorn during her long public service career, died in the home that her grandparents built, her son said. “She was born in Austin, Texas, and died in Austin, Texas,” McClellan said. “She loved this city and this state more than anything besides the family.” After serving as mayor, Keeton made an unsuccessful bid in 1986 to unseat longtime U.S. Rep. J.J. “Jake” Pickle, running as a Republican in the heavily Democratic district. Eight years later, she was elected to one of three seats on the Texas Railroad Commission. She won a razor-close race to be the state’s top financial officer in 1998.