Уильям Уэйн Килер: Мұнайшы, инженер және Шеруки тайпасының басшысы

American engineer, oilman and tribal chief

William Wayne Keeler (April 5, 1908 – August 24, 1987) was an American engineer, oilman, and tribal chief. He was the last appointed and first elected Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation in the 20th century. Educated as a chemical engineer, he worked for Phillips Petroleum Company, where he became chief executive officer at the end of a long career with the company. Throughout his life he also worked in the federal government for the advancement of Indians. President Truman appointed him as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma in 1949. He also served as chairman for the executive committee of the Texas Cherokees and Associate Bands from 1939 until 1972. In 1971, he became the Cherokees' first elected chief since 1903. Keeler created tribal institutions such as the Cherokee Nation Builders Corporation and a national Cherokee newspaper. He helped establish the Cherokee Foundation and attain $14 million from the federal government over a land dispute. He led the drafting of a new Cherokee constitution in 1975. Bill Keeler's parents were William and Sarah Louisa Carr, both of whom were of Cherokee descent. William was a stockman who had traveled from Bartlesville to the Texas Panhandle in 1908 to buy cattle. Sarah was then expecting her fourth child, but decided to accompany her husband. She delivered their first son in Dalhart. Only two of their children survived to adulthood: Bill and a sister, Blanche. Young Bill attended Bartlesville public schools. During high school and college, he spent his summers working on construction sites for Phillips Petroleum Company. In 1924, Blanche married Kenneth S. "Boots" Adams, who would later become president of Phillips Petroleum Corporation. The couple divorced in 1945. Keeler was born into the Long Hair Clan of the Cherokee.

In 1948 he was selected as vice chairman of the tribe's executive committee. Both the Cherokee National Council and the Oklahoma congressional delegation recommended that President Truman appoint Keeler as Chief in 1949, following the death of the previous principal chief, J. B. Milam. During a period from 1945 to 1972 he also served as chairman of the executive committee of the Texas Cherokees and Associate Bands and was instrumental in getting the 1836 Treaty of Bowles Village brought before the Indian Claims Commission. He resigned that post in 1972. Under President Johnson's Administration, Keeler was appointed as a member of the National Advisory Committee for the War on Poverty Program and was put on the President's Committee on Economic Opportunity.

Some consider Keeler to be the most influential person to the Cherokee nation aside from John Ross, who battled the removal of Indians and fought against the "Trail of Tears." He promoted infrastructure building within Cherokee land while serving as chief. Although Keeler would eventually manage to create great leaps in Cherokee infrastructure and life, he did not promote native sovereignty in the late 1950s. He also created several Cherokee buildings targeted at industry building; such as a garment manufacturing company with Cherokee employees, the Cherokee Nation Builders Corporation (with Cherokee Indian construction crews), and skills training programs to assimilate to the new industrialized world as well as crafts and child care training for women at home. He also presided over the drafting of a new Cherokee constitution in 1975 in his final year as chief. He died in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, on August 24, 1987, after four years of failing health.