In Memoriam — Tina Dyann Keagy

December 10, 1949 – July 1, 2024

By Shari Goldstein Stern

White Rock lost a special neighbor and treasured friend when Tina Keagy passed away on July 1, 2024, in Austin, Texas. She was comfortable in hospice care in the home of her family there. Born December 10, 1949, Keagy was proud to be a native Dallasite and Texan. 

Keagy, a 1968 Bryan Adams High School graduate, was known for her infectious sense of humor, which drew people to her. Many of her friends maintained relationships with her throughout adulthood and fondly remember the joy and laughter she brought into their lives.

Her close friend, Dr. Janet Swift Lawson Egiziano, said: “My friend [Tina] was known as a staunch feminist with a penchant for politics. She was a lifelong, proud and fiercely unapologetic Democrat, which was not an easy feat in Dallas. She was never shy about voicing or living her political values. She deeply believed in equality, justice and freedom of thought, expression and action for all people regardless of race, class, gender or sexuality.” 

Keagy earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Texas at Dallas. Tired of working as a bookkeeper at the old Margie’s Dress Shop in Casa Linda and then at Whiskey River, she returned to school at Texas A&M University at Commerce, where she finished a master’s degree in psychotherapy and research. She was 30. In 1972, the progressive-thinking Keagy was one of a handful of women who helped found the Dallas Women Against Rape (DWAR). They realized that rape victims in Dallas needed a safe place to go for comprehensive services after experiencing a brutal attack. 

As young women in their early 20s, the fearless group forged ahead, going before the Dallas County Commissioners Court for funding, and they were successful. She joined the staff at Promise House, where she worked with teens, and later worked as a professional counselor for DWAR in counseling and psychology. 

Since the 1970s, Keagy enjoyed her cottage-style home on a unique wooded lot in Urbandale, and spent countless joyful hours decorating it in the shabby chic style with lots of rabbit decor.

She served as a volunteer crisis counselor at the Dallas Rape Crisis Center in the 1980s. In 2012, Keagy had a private practice, providing counseling and hypnosis, with pain management as her specialty. Tina’s friends recall her passion for animals. She took in feral kittens and was especially skilled with dogs. Tina is remembered as highly intelligent, passionate, and having a finely tuned sense of humor. She is survived by her nephew, Matthew Keagy, and sister-in-law, Mary Keagy, both of Austin. Keagy was preceded in death by her mother, Christobel Johnson Keagy, her father, Monte Barry, and her brother, Mark Keagy, and sister, Kay Keagy. 

Tina’s body was cremated, and her family will scatter her ashes in the ocean. Her life will be celebrated in Dallas, with details pending.