Eileen Keyes, 86, of New Rochelle, NY, passed away on her birthday, November 24, 2013. Teacher for generations of New Rochelle students and wife of “French Connection” co-author Edward M. Keyes, she is survived by six children and four grandchildren. Neptune Avenue will never be the same.
In 2010, Tom Shea of The Republican (Mass.) wrote a terrific article on the Keyes family.
It is worth a read today: Jeanine Keyes-Plante, daughter of “The French Connection” collaborator Edward Keyes, glad people are reading her father’s work again
Eileen Keyes’ daughter recalled a big moment in the Keyes family:
“I remember before the movie was released, a big screen was set up in our living room, these big reels of film,” Jeanine says. “It was all so exciting. I think the real Popeye Doyle, Eddie Egan, the New York detective came to the house. I know the director did. The kids were banished up stairs. I’m not sure when I read the book for the first time or saw the whole movie. But I do remember when I finally saw the movie and heard Gene Hackman ask a suspect, ‘Ever pick your feet in Poughkeepsie?’ I laughed out loud. My father was always asking us if we ever picked our feet in Poughkeepsie.”