Bonnie Ruth Kay, of Lacey’s Spring, passed away Wednesday afternoon, August 19. She had not felt well for some time, and had been hospitalized three times during the last few weeks of her life. In accordance with her wishes, her body was cremated.
Ms. Kay was born in Arab, in Cullman County, September 26, 1933, to George Ulysses Leak and Roxie Bertha Coker Leak. She was preceded in death by her parents in the late 1980s; elder siblings Paul Leak and Laura Pauline “Sis” Atchley; and her husband (the father of their two children), Gene Erskine Kay, who passed away in 2011.
She graduated from Arab High School in 1952, and married Mr. Kay in 1959. She worked at the Brindlee Mountain Telephone Company from shortly after her graduation until the birth of their second child, in late 1962. She was a full-time homemaker, wife and mother from then until about 1974, when she re-entered the workforce as a part-time substitute mail carrier for the Lacey’s Spring Post Office. She was a civil servant at Redstone Arsenal from 1977 until her retirement in 1995, during which time she diligently worked her way up from being a Finance & Accounting clerk-typist to being the Commanding General’s correspondence secretary.
She was a longtime active member of Lacey’s Spring United Methodist Church, where she served in various offices in UMW.
Survivors include her two children, Amanda Jean Schenker and Barry Wilson Kay; their spouses, Daniel Schenker and Sharon Kay; her two grandsons, Tully Isaac Kay and David Thanh Schenker; her sister Billie Jean Maze; their brother Glenn Leak; and numerous nieces and nephews.
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, August 29, at Brindlee Mountain Funeral Chapel in Lacey’s Spring/Morgan City, at 11:00 a.m., with Rev. Stephen Benefield officiating. Visitation will begin beforehand, at 10:00 a.m. There will be a gathering and meal at Lacey’s Spring United Methodist Church afterwards.
Flowers will be gratefully appreciated, as will donations made to Lacey’s Spring United Methodist Church in memory of Ms. Kay.
