Former North Rockland High School teacher remembered as a ‘community hero’
Billy Keenan was a retired Army lieutenant and worked for years as a history teacher at North Rockland High School. He was once a musician, athlete and avid surfer.
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The North Rockland community is saying their goodbyes tonight to a well-known former high school teacher who died last week after a yearslong medical struggle due to a surfing accident that left him quadriplegic.
Billy Keenan died at Westchester Medical Center last Wednesday at age 57.
“He was an inspiration to everybody,” says Keenan’s son, Kieran. “People will remember the Irish musician, baseball coach, teacher, army paratrooper.”
News 12 interviewed Keenan many times since his accident in 2103, from when he briefly returned to teaching and later became a motivational speaker, to when he almost lost his home during a bitter divorce and in 2023 , when he wrote a book.
On Monday, News 12 interviewed Keenan’s 22-year-old son surrounded by his father’s things at their New City home.
“It doesn’t feel real yet. I don’t think we’ve had enough time to process it. The last thing he told me was the greatest gift he ever received was the man I became,” Kieran says.
Keenan was a retired Army lieutenant and worked for years as a history teacher at North Rockland High School. He was once a musician, athlete and avid surfer.
His son says he’ll be remembered for his selflessness and dedication to everything he set his mind to.
“His job here was to serve. He did that in the military, he did that as a teacher, he did it as a dad, a Christian, everything,” says Keiran.
Keenan died before he could finish writing his second book, “I Am Iron Man.” His son says he plans on finishing it and hopes to publish the book sometime in 2025.
Billy Keenan’s wake services are being held Monday from 4 - 9 p.m., at St. Francis of Assisi in West Nyack.
His funeral Mass will be held at the church on Tuesday at 10 a.m.
