I owe who I am as a teacher today to Kay. My teaching career began 37 years ago and the stars were aligned perfectly as I was fortunate enough to be hired as a first year teacher in the same school as Kay. I was a fresh out of OU (thank goodness!) brand new special education teacher when I met Kay at Celia Clinton. Kay was assigned to be my mentor teacher and it was the best thing that could have happened to a young teacher. We were required to spend a number of hours out of school time together each week adding up to a required monthly total of hours. When our weekly/monthly hours were running on the short side, we would log hours sharing meals at restaurants or spending time at Kay’s apartment. A lot of times we WOULD talk about school, teaching, and students, but just as often we would discuss the important things in life-family, experiences, and recipes. Kay accepted me with open arms into all of her life. She instilled confidence in a young teacher that was sorely needed. She provided guidance without judgement, most of the time beginning with the words, “Well, you know….” and gently showed me the right way to deal with our students. After teaching at Celia Clinton for three years, I moved to a different school. One of the hardest things I have ever done was to tell Kay I was leaving. In true Kay fashion, she ended up consoling ME even though I was the one who had made the choice to leave. Kay and I continued to share phone calls and dinners out. When Kay moved into her house, I became the Easter bunny. Every Easter I would leave a gift and basket of treats on Kay’s porch for her to find on Easter morning. I chose Easter because Kay was such a blessing in my life. For a number of years, the bunny was anonymous. A couple of years after Allen moved in, the bunny’s identity was made known. Allen had watched for the bunny and caught me with “the goods.” From that time forward, I delivered treats after church on Easter morning and spent time visiting. I spent time with Kay this Easter and found out about her breast cancer. She was so excited when she called with the news that she got to “ring the bell” for being cancer free. My heart is full of so many memories of Kay. I loved hearing stories of her life in New York and teaching in San Francisco. She had great Lake Tahoe stories. Kay could see humor in everything. That car horn! Weight Watchers. Recipes. Cookbooks! Special snacks for awards shows on television. Adult beverages. Her love of animals. Max, her orange cat. Max walked into the wide open back door of Celia Clinton (no AC back then) as a tiny kitten with a stub tail, meowing and crying to beat the band. My room was next to the door and Kay’s room was next to mine. I scooped Max up and delivered him to Kay. Of course, she took him home! That beautiful, quick smile and contagious laugh. Talking politics-we hardly ever disagreed-from candidates to how horrible Oklahoma treats educators. Costume jewelry. Kindness. Generosity. Being a people person. Love. Words will never do justice to Kay. I am deeply saddened by the loss of her. She touched so many lives and will be remembered with fondness. I am sorry for our loss. I will love Kay always.
