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For “Ma,” any film made in color began with a negative review.
That playful quirk defined the spirit of Blanche Keeney of Massapequa, a woman whose deep love for the Golden Age of Hollywood was second only to her devotion to her family.
Keeney, who passed away on Dec. 7 at the age of 99, amassed a personal collection of over 3,000 DVDs of black-and-white films, with “Gone with the Wind” holding the top spot. Her film idol? Clark Gable, of course.
Born in 1925 to Czech immigrant parents Frederick and Anna Ruchar, Keeney grew up on her family’s dairy farm in the Catskills during the Great Depression. She had two siblings, her brother Fred, nickname “Laddie,” and a sister Antoinette, affectionately known as “Tonche.”
After World War II, Keeney moved to Manhattan and worked as a bank clerk. She met her future husband Francis (“Frank”) and the couple married in 1948.
The couple settled in Massapequa, where they raised two children, Eileen and Robert, and built a thriving insurance business called the William J. Hofmann Insurance Agency.
Known affectionately as “Ma,” Keeney’s warmth and humor were the foundation of her large, close-knit family, which includes seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren scattered across the country — and France. Beyond her love of family and film, Keeney adored anything related to Disney.
She was described by her son-in-law, Mark Ciccone of Duxbury, Massachusetts, as the polar opposite of every mother-in-law stereotype.
“I valued our relationship immensely,” he said in a comment on her obituary page.
