Thelma "Thel" Keane (née Carne; March 15, 1926 – May 23, 2008) was the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n-born

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

wife of ''

The Family Circus ''The Family Circus'' (originally ''The Family Circle'', also ''Family-Go-Round'') is a syndicated comic strip created by cartoonist Bil Keane and, since Bil's death in 2011, is currently written, inked, and rendered (colored) by his son, Jef ...

'' newspaper

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

Bil Keane William Aloysius "Bil" Keane (October 5, 1922 – November 8, 2011) was an American cartoonist most notable for his work on the newspaper comic ''The Family Circus''. It began in 1960 and continues in syndication, drawn by his son Jeff Kea ...

. Keane served as her husband's inspiration and model for the "Mommy"

character Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

in his long running

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

and was instrumental in restoring the copyrights for ''The Family Circus'' to her husband.

Early life

Keane was born Thelma Carne in

Gympie, Queensland Gympie ( ) is a city and a locality in the Gympie Region, Queensland, Australia. In the Wide Bay-Burnett District, Gympie is about north of the state capital, Brisbane. The city lies on the Mary River, which floods Gympie occasionally. The l ...

, in 1926. Her father was a

banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguis ...

farmer. For much of her early childhood, Carne lived in a four-room

canvas Canvas is an extremely durable plain-woven fabric used for making sails, tents, marquees, backpacks, shelters, as a support for oil painting and for other items for which sturdiness is required, as well as in such fashion objects as handbags ...

tent A tent () is a shelter consisting of sheets of fabric or other material draped over, attached to a frame of poles or a supporting rope. While smaller tents may be free-standing or attached to the ground, large tents are usually anchored using gu ...

within the borders of the

Amamoor Forest Reserve The Amamoor State Forest and Forest Reserve is a riverine rainforest in the Gympie Region in Queensland, Australia. The forest is composed of subtropical vegetation dominated by stands of ''Melia azedarach'' (white cedar), ''Toona ciliata'' (red ...

while her father worked on a local

reforestation Reforestation (occasionally, reafforestation) is the natural or intentional restocking of existing forests and woodlands (forestation) that have been depleted, usually through deforestation, but also after clearcutting. Management A debate ...

project. She lived with relatives in Gympie while in high school and returned home to her family on the weekends.

Personal life

Thelma Carne met her future husband, Bil Keane, an American, while working in the United States

war bonds War bonds (sometimes referred to as Victory bonds, particularly in propaganda) are debt securities issued by a government to finance military operations and other expenditure in times of war without raising taxes to an unpopular level. They are a ...

office in

Brisbane, Australia Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

, 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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Bil Keane was a

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

promotional artist who drew

posters A poster is a large sheet that is placed either on a public space to promote something or on a wall as decoration. Typically, posters include both textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or wholly text. ...

and flyers for the war effort. Thelma had been hired as an

accounting Accounting, also known as accountancy, is the measurement, processing, and communication of financial and non financial information about economic entities such as businesses and corporations. Accounting, which has been called the "languag ...

secretary A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a w ...

for the office. Their desks and

workstation A workstation is a special computer designed for technical or scientific applications. Intended primarily to be used by a single user, they are commonly connected to a local area network and run multi-user operating systems. The term ''workstat ...

s were next to each other. Cartoonist Bil Keane later spoke of meeting Thelma in the office saying, "Thel was a very pretty 18-year-old with a gorgeous figure, long brown hair and I just happened to have a desk drawing next to her and I got the nerve to ask her out. We started laughing then and never stopped." Thelma and Bil were married in 1948. She moved from Australia to her husband's hometown of

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

and eventually settled in the

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...

Roslyn, Pennsylvania Roslyn is an unincorporated community in Abington Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. Originally called Hillside, the name Roslyn came from rose gardens that once grew there. The first known person of European descent to s ...

. The couple had five children between 1949 and 1958. Thelma, her husband and their children moved to

Paradise Valley, Arizona Paradise Valley is a town in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, and a suburb of Phoenix, the state's largest city. It is Arizona's wealthiest municipality. The town is known for its luxury golf courses, shopping, expensive real estate, and ...

in 1959.

''The Family Circus''

Phoenix-Cemetery-Holy Redeemer Cemetery-Grave of Bil Keane-2

Bil Keane began drawing ''

in 1960. He modeled the Mommy in the cartoon on his wife, Thelma. The Mommy character in the

comic a Media (communication), medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of Panel (comics), panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, Glo ...

was even named "Thel" after his wife's nickname. Bil Keane later told the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

after Thelma's death in 2008, "She was the

inspiration Inspiration, inspire, or inspired often refers to: * Artistic inspiration, sudden creativity in artistic production * Biblical inspiration, the doctrine in Judeo-Christian theology concerned with the divine origin of the Bible * Creative inspirat ...

for all of my success. When the cartoon first appeared, she looked so much like Mommy that if she was in the

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earli ...

pushing her

cart A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by one or a pair of draught animals. A handcart is pulled or pushed by one or more people. It is different from the flatbed tr ...

around, people would come up to her and say, 'Aren't you the Mommy in 'Family Circus?' And she would admit it." Keane later altered the "Mommy" character's hair in 1996 because the style had become outdated. Thelma Keane worked as the full-time

financial Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fina ...

and

business manager The Oxford English Dictionary defines a business manager as "a person who manages the business affairs of an individual, institution, organization, or company". Compare manager. Business managers drive the work of others (if any) in order to oper ...

for her husband while he continued to draw ''The Family Circus''. Her family credited Thelma's

business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for pr ...

skills as the main reason that Bil Keane became one of the first syndicated newspaper

s in the country to regain the full rights to his comic. She led the 1988

negotiations Negotiation is a dialogue between two or more people or parties to reach the desired outcome regarding one or more issues of conflict. It is an interaction between entities who aspire to agree on matters of mutual interest. The agreement ...

with

King Features Syndicate King Features Syndicate, Inc. is a American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editoria ...

to return the copyrights for ''The Family Circus''. King Features finally agreed to return the rights to the cartoon to Bil Keane after long and protracted talks with Thelma Keane. as of 2008, the comic strip runs in approximately 1,500

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

s. Thelma Keane died at the age of 82 at the Barton House

assisted living An assisted living residence or assisted living facility (ALF) is a housing facility for people with disabilities or for adults who cannot or who choose not to live independently. The term is popular in the United States, but the setting is s ...

facility in Paradise Valley, Arizona on May 23, 2008. She had been diagnosed with

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...

. Keane was survived by her husband, Bil Keane, and the couple's five children, Gayle, Neal,

Glen A glen is a valley, typically one that is long and bounded by gently sloped concave sides, unlike a ravine, which is deep and bounded by steep slopes. Whittow defines it as a "Scottish term for a deep valley in the Highlands" that is "narrower ...

, Jeff and Christopher. Her youngest son, Jeff Keane, continued to help his father draw and publish ''The Family Circus'' as an assistant

inker The inker (sometimes credited as the finisher or embellisher) is one of the two line artists in traditional comic book production. The penciller creates a drawing, the inker outlines, interprets, finalizes, retraces this drawing by using a pencil ...

and

colorist In comics, a colorist is responsible for adding color to black-and-white line art. For most of the 20th century this was done using brushes and dyes which were then used as guides to produce the printing plates. Since the late 20th century it is ...

, taking the full-time role of being the lead cartoonist after Bil Keane died in 2011.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keane, Thelma 1926 births 2008 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American businesswomen Australian emigrants to the United States People from Gympie People from Paradise Valley, Arizona People from Abington Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Deaths from Alzheimer's disease Neurological disease deaths in Arizona 21st-century American women