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General Note

Accompanying note: "Employed as a trooper after completing the recruit school in Lakeland, Florida, August 1, 1941, stationed at Bartow, Florida. He was one of 30 troopers selected to receive an additional week of specialized training to conduct Drivers License examinations which began October 1st of that same year."

"The photograph above was taken in 1945 at the front of the State Road Department District Office, the Troop Commander Headquarters for the Central Division, Captain H. C. (Red) Martin commanding. Trooper Keith was strutting the new winter uniform, which was Army Officer Pink. The color of the new uniforms was selected by Director J. J. Gilliam, who also directed that all new patrol cruisers would carry the state seal on the doors and trunk in lieu of the orange."

Biographical Note

Born on July 4, 1917 in Asheville, North Carolina. He was one of Florida's earliest troopers joining the FHP in 1941, a few years after it was officially established. He served 30 years in uniform, rising to the rank of major and becoming the state's first director of driver licensing in 1963. He left the FHP in 1978 to become the civilian head of driver licensing, and he remained in that post until retiring in 1987. In retirement, he became the official historian of the Florida Highway Patrol. Clay Keith died on December 18, 2000.