About the Donors
Jared and Tabitha Yates
of Hickory North Carolina
Jared and Tabitha are the founding donors of the Captain Keeton Chicken Money Scholarship. Jared is a native of Meridian, Mississippi, the site of the 1935 Key Brothers record-setting flight involving Captain Keeton. He enrolled at Delta State University in the fall semester of 1999 and graduated with a Bachelor of Commercial Aviation Degree and Flight Operations Major in 2003, receiving the ceremonial "first diploma" based on the highest GPA. After graduation he worked at DSU in the Commercial Aviation department and earned a Master of Commercial Aviation degree in 2004. Now he and his wife Tabitha live in North Carolina, where they are building an airplane and raising a flock of chickens, among other things. Jared first met James Keeton in 1992 at his home in Magnolia Springs, Alabama. Family friend and Keeton relative Robert Soule provided the connection for this and subsequent visits, and has provided valuable support and research to the scholarship program.