Kay was born in Ishpeming Michigan, the same year as Audrey Hepburn. Her family called her "Peanuts". She worked as a bank teller and earned a degree in Business. She was an accomplished birdwatcher, skier, and golfer.

She baked cookies, pies, and bread for her family every week, and she made the world's best Cornish pasties. She cross-stitched a clock and a barometer that are icons in her home, and she knitted sweaters for everyone in her family.

She raised two challenging boys and volunteered as a Cub Scout den mother for a dozen more. Her home was the hangout for a myriad of her sons' teenage friends, feeding anyone who happened to be around at mealtime. She served on a series of school improvement committees, eventually becoming vice-president of the Durango school board. And she was always the loudest laugh in the audience at her son's plays.

Kay lived in Durango for almost 50 years and was very active in the Neo Delphian and PEO sororities. She spent her last years in Broomfield Colorado, to be near her sons Chuck and Bob, and her four grandchildren Sara, Anna, Hayden, and Jaxsen. She is survived by her husband John of 63 years.

She was a devoted wife, a loving mother, a good friend, and a good citizen, of her community and of the planet. She is dearly missed.

Memorial services will be sometime in the spring at Crestview Memorial Gardens, La Plata County.