We gather to mourn the loss of our beloved Kay McAdam, who succumbed to cancer at age 81.
Kay, the oldest of three, was born in Culver City, California, to Charles and Lois King. She graduated from Van Nuys High School in 1959. When fellow student Thomas McAdam walked into her class at San Fernando Valley State College (now Cal State Northridge), she had a feeling that he was the man she was going to spend her life with…and she was right. After she graduated in the spring of 1963 with a degree in childhood education and a teaching credential, she married Tom that August.
The young couple settled in Huntington Beach where Kay taught school for two years, until she became a full-time mother to their two daughters and son. In 1972, the McAdam family moved to a drafty old farmhouse in Fillmore, full of dogs, cats, and other animals. At one point, the family operated a flower shop in Moorpark, but even after it closed, she never lacked for the flowers she adored. Kay returned to work at the Fillmore Public Library as our much-loved children’s librarian, ready with a smile and reading recommendation. In later years, she was also a librarian at the Moorpark, Simi Valley, and Thousand Oaks public libraries until she retired in 2003.
A lover of antiques, cozy mysteries, decorating, Victorian style, shopping, and shoes–giving Imelda a run for her money–she also played the piano and gave the grandchildren lessons. She and Tom traveled widely, both internationally (Spain, France, England, Italy, Germany, and other places) and within the United States, including, most recently, trips to Hawaii. A trip to Europe with the grandchildren had some secret adventures we still don’t know. She also enjoyed spending time at Lake Berryessa in Napa County, at their tiny house with a great view.
Kay, a little, blue-eyed lady with red hair, was lighthearted, friendly, fun, and generous with her heart and time. She’d spend hours playing with her grandchildren and generally spoiling them rotten. She blessed the lives of everyone she met, and we are better people for having known her.
She is survived by Thomas, her husband of 58 years; her children, Karen Hodge, Kelli McAdam, and Thomas McAdam Jr.; four grandchildren, Kevin Hodge, Kristen Vail, Joseph McAdam, and Fiona McAdam; two great-grandchildren, William Vail and Calvin Vail; her brothers Charles King and Robert King; and numerous extended family and friends, all of whom miss her very much.