Jocelyn Marcel Keyes is the wife of Dr. Alan Keyes, the only major Black Republican candidate for President of the United States in the 20th century and candidate in the historic race for the U.S. Senate from Illinois against Illinois State Senator Barack Obama. Mrs. Keyes met her husband in 1979 during his term in the U.S. Foreign Service as a Consular Officer for the U.S. State Department in Mumbai, India. She returned with the future ambassador and White House advisor to Maryland in 1981 where they were married. She had three children with Keyes—Francis, Andrew and Maya—before becoming a naturalized citizen of the United States. Mrs. Keyes is an Indian American.
A devout Roman Catholic and as a testament to her Asian and Indian roots, Mrs. Keyes runs her own soup kitchen in Montgomery County, Maryland. She is also a stay-at-home mother to her youngest son Andrew, attending high school in suburban Washington, DC.
