On June 16, 2025, Kay Kaiser Burtis left this earthly realm for her welldeserved peace and joyful reunion with previously departed loved ones in heaven. She was born in Fairfax, Oklahoma, on April 11, 1937 to parents Gordon Kaiser and J.J.

Kaiser. Her father had grown up in the town of Weatherford, Oklahoma, working with his two brothers on their father’s farm, the Almon Kaiser Dairy, until he graduated from college and became a principal, teacher, and coach in Clinton. Her mother, born J.J. Williams, taught music in Clinton, and was daughter of Dr. James Johnson Williams, whom had homesteaded near Weatherford and became the town’s doctor, mayor, and then served as state senator.

Kay and her brother, Gordon “Bogey” Kaiser, Jr., were raised in Clinton, except for a few years during World War II, when the family had to relocate to several different Army Air Force bases throughout the western United States where their father taught aviation ground school.

She graduated from Clinton High School in 1955. She often reminisced about all the good times she had with her friends there.

During the summers she worked as a life guard and water safety instructor at the town’s community pool. She would go on to receive extensive swimming and lifeguard training, graduating from the American Red Cross National Aquatic School in 1955.

Kay completed her freshman year of college at Lindenwood, a women’s college at the time located in St.

Charles, Missouri.

She was president of the synchronized swim team there.

For her sophomore year she returned to Oklahoma to attend the University of Oklahoma where she was a member of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and graduated in 1961 with a bachelor’s degree.

She married her high school sweetheart, Buff Burtis, Jr., in December of 1958. After marriage, she worked at the American Red Cross and the YMCA, performing secretarial duties, while her husband attended medical school at the University of Oklahoma.

In 1973, the family, now including two sons, Paul and David, moved to Anchorage, Alaska.

In Alaska, her husband established his medical practice and became the first president of the American Thoracic Society of Alaska.

After a divorce in 1982, she moved with her youngest son David to Napa California to be close to her Dad and Mom, whom had moved there decades earlier to pursue their teaching careers.

In 1985, she moved to the small town of Calistoga California, where she would reside for the rest of her life.

While living in Calistoga, she spent countless hours volunteering as a trained docent with the Napa Valley State Parks, serving on the board of directors for the cooperating association there for over thirty years.

One of the proudest accomplishments of her life was the design and development of the Native America Plant Garden and the museum exhibit at Bothe Napa Valley State Park, where she taught the cultural and natural history of the Napa Valley to the public, educated school groups, worked with incarcerated juveniles as part of their rehabilitation, supervised eagle scouts on projects, coordinated volunteer work parties, and served as a liaison between the state park and the native people of the area.

She cherished the friendships she made in the community. She was always kind, honest, and respectful to everyone she encountered and had a disarming sense of humor that could lighten the darkest mood. As a wife and mother, she was always loving and supportive.

She passed away suddenly and peacefully in her home.

She will be so dearly missed. A private service will be held at Greenwood Cemetery in Weatherford, Oklahoma.