Wiliam Shaffer Key - Oklahoma City, OK
Posted by: 
hamquilter
N 35° 36.347 W 097° 29.459
14S E 636682 N 3941273
You may never have heard of William Key, but his name is engraved on hundreds of cornerstones throughout Oklahoma.
Waymark Code: WMRA6V
Location: Oklahoma, United States
Date Posted: 05/30/2016
Views: 15
William Shaffer Key (Whose name W.S. Key adorns so many cornerstones in Oklahoma), came to Oklahoma from Alabama at the age of 21. Before long, he started a hardware and undertaking business in Wewoka. Key married Irene Davis in 1914.
Information found in the Find a Grave obituary indicates that having served in an Alabama National Guard unit a couple of years before coming to Oklahoma, he joined a Wewoka Guard unit in 1912 as a private. Two years later, he was a second lieutenant and served on the Mexican border campaign against Pancho Villa. He led the Wewoka Guard unit to France in World War I as a captain, returning 17 months later as a lieutenant colonel.
Key was the commanding general of the 45th Division before and during World War II and was assigned to General Dwight D. Eisenhower's staff as provost marshal for the U.S. Armed forces in Europe. For five days during World War II, Key was the commanding general of all American forces in Europe. The commanding general, Frank Maxwell Andrews, was killed in a plane crash and Key held that position until a successor was appointed.
Between wars, Key served twice as warden at the state penitentiary, from 1924-1927 and from 1933-1934. The state's minimum-securty prison in Fort Supply, OK is named in his honor and is known as William Shaffer Key Correctional Center.
In 1935, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt appointed Key as state administrator of the Works Progress Administration. Under his administration, 550 new school buildings were built and additions were made to 478. The WPA under Key also built 129 other public buildings and 52 community buildings that were used for National
Guard armories. This is where we first saw his name (W.S. Key) on so many WPA-constructed cornerstones, and wondered who this W.S. Key was, and wanted to learn more about him.
William Shaffer Key was listed in Who's Who in Oklahoma in 1935. He was the commander of the Allied Forces in Iceland during World War II in 1943-1944. The gate leading into Fort Sill, OK is called the "Key Gate" in his honor.
His headstone is a simple granite horizontal marker showing his name and the years of his birth and death. It is located in a picturesque part of the cemetery, just north of the tall stone bell tower and fountain.
Description:
See narrative
Date of birth: 10/06/1889
Date of death: 01/05/1959
Area of notoriety: Military
Marker Type: Horizontal Marker
Setting: Outdoor
Visiting Hours/Restrictions: Dawn to Dusk
Fee required?: No
Web site: [Web Link]
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