Tthe Keeners have been called gypsies a time or two because of their sense of adventure and their work with Habitat.  They’ve traveled all over the world partnering with Habitat to build homes.

“Sixteen winters ago,” recalls Gerry, “We were doing a [Habitat] Caravan build in Las Cruces. We were working with Ken Kinney and he urged us to come to Tucson.”

Since then, Gerry Keener and his wife Carolyn have earned the status of snowbirds.  They’ve spent a number of winters in Tucson and much of that time has been spent working with Habitat.

However, before they were called gypsies or snowbirds, Gerry and Carolyn were eligible for early retirement. It was over two decades ago when the Keeners were considering what to do with their free time.

“We had the opportunity to retire early, but we still wanted to contribute to the community,” Carolyn said.  “Pretty soon we were in the midst of working with Habitat,” Gerry added.

Within recent years, they’ve become involved in the rehabilitation of homes for Habitat, helping to recycle older homes and make them new for Habitat families.

“With rehab-houses, you do whatever it takes to make them new…and whatever that is, depends on the house,” Gerry said.

The Keeners quickly realized that working with rehab-houses makes it easier to predict what to expect from one task to the next. “That means you don’t waste any time,” they said, “and we appreciate that.”

By Sierra Russell