Karen Kay
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Karen Kay

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Signed 16 Jun 2016 | 3,509 contributions | 126 thank-yous | 844 connections
Karen L. Kay
Born 1960s.
Ancestors ancestors
Sister of [private brother (1960s - unknown)]
Mother of [private child (2000s - unknown)]
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Profile last modified | Created 16 Jun 2016
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Contents

Biography

Birth

Craigie House: Atlanta Chapter D.A.R. 1966

Born in Atlanta area - just over a month after the assassination of President Kennedy. My mom used to say she nearly miscarried when she heard about it. Dad was getting his PhD at Emory Univ while teaching at Georgia Tech. Mother taught at Decatur public Schools.

If it’s carbonated, we call it a Coke

Parents

1960: The birth of the Cowboys

My father and mother met in college at SMU in Dallas. They were living in Dallas when the Cowboys were first organized - hence we are lifelong fans. Mom was born and raised in Jacksboro, TX, where her father Leon "Papa" Hawkins owned and ran Hawkins Funeral Home.

Growing Up

When I was 2, Dad took a position at University of Southern Miss and we moved to Hattiesburg, His parents already lived there, in Collins, MS. My Grandfather, Rufus "Paw Paw" Kay, worked for Colonial Pipeline and was transferred there. They were from Louisiana but lived in Nederland Texas before moving to MS. Nederland is where my father graduated high School.

Eagle Country

I grew up in Hattiesburg as a USM staff brat. The university was like a 2nd home.

historical note: The Civil rights act of 1964 was slow to take hold in south Mississippi. There was an African American lady named Nancy who took care of me when I was very young. She would take me to a nearby park that still had two sections - leftover from the old Jim Crow laws - one for blacks and one for whites. She did not like to take me to the whites only area, even though by law she could, so I usually played in the old "colored" section, which only had a slide and a set of swings.

Separate was not Equal

Another thing I remember about that time was going to see my pediatrician, whose practice was in an old house. There were still two waiting rooms, though for years I did not know it. Once when it was really crowded they showed us to the back where the other one was. It was very small and cramped. This must have been late sixties by then, but still we were the only whites in there. I remember wondering why they did not use the front waiting room. For a long time I thought those old laws were still in place - since everyone seemingly still abided by them.

When Mom became pregnant with my brother, we moved to the outskirts of town and I started school at what was then a "country" school, 11 miles away, called Oak Grove.

After the Storm

My brother was born a few months before Camille. Historical event: Hurricane Camille. Even though we were 60 plus miles from the MS gulf coast, we lost 13 trees and many neighbors had severe damage to their homes. I remember that night well. We all slept in the hallway with my baby brother bedded down in the bathtub. Scary, scary night!


Around this time, my family joined the Episcopal church. My father was raised Methodist and Mom was raised in the Baptist church.

I went to college at Southern Miss (of course!) ending up with a BS in Social work and a minor in music. (My original goal was to be a music therapist). I marched in the band "Pride of Mississippi" & joined ASA. My parents divorced my sophomore year in college. I became a resident assistant in the sorority dorm, then after 3.5 yrs living in the dorm, I moved home with my Mom to help take care of my grandmother Ruth "Nana" Hawkins, who was beginning to succumb to Alzheimer's.

Adult Life

After graduation, I moved to Tampa, FL to work at the Children's Crisis Stabilization unit, where I was a shift counselor, then worked as a mental health counselor at the Senior Day Care center. There I held "singalongs" with the patients - that was about as close to music therapy as I ever got. I had a dear friend (also a co-worker and roommate) during that time who died of AIDS.

I moved back to the Atlanta area in 1989. There I worked for Southern Regional Medical Center in the psych ward as a Mental Health Counselor and Crisis Counselor, working mostly with adolescents. I lived and worked there for 7 years, In 1996 (just after the long awaited Atlanta summer Olympics) I was ready to leave a difficult relationship, and at that same time my father had a brain tumor. I moved "home" to Mom's in Jackson and Dad died a few days later.

I worked for Fortune Equipment Company for 2 years, then moved to an accounting firm, In 2007 I received my MBA in accounting.

Family

In 2000 I bought my first house and was a happy spinster with my sweet dog Abbie. But in 2002 I had the most beautiful boy in the whole world (mostly a result of post 9.11 craziness)

and even though I was single, I was happier than I had ever been. When my son was about a year old I decided to go back to school. I registered with an online degree program to get my MBA, and it was through this that I met the man who would become my husband in 2004. Michael completed our family and we got married on 4/19/2006. I was 42 years old.

historical event: Hurricane Katrina 2005 Aug 29 - Jackson was slammed pretty hard. We were without power for several days and I was trying to take final exams online, (not to mention the heat was unbearable, especially with a 3 year old!) so we drove to the first town with power and rooms, which ended up being Tuscaloosa. We did not know until we got there and could watch television the devastation going on in New Orleans and the coast. Mom took off to stay with my cousin Jennifer in Texas and didn't come back for several weeks.

My mom was a "third parent" to my son and the two of them grew very close. She died 9/1/2013 (same day of the year as my father in 1996). My son had a particularly hard time after her death and his behavior and grades began to slip. In 2014 we bought another house, and hoped the change would help, but he still struggled. Some friends of my mother and others from our church, plus some generous friends and family have supported him to go to French Camp Academy, a Christian boarding school. He loves it there and is thriving.

Sources

  • First-hand information. Entered by Karen Kay at registration.

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DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with Karen by comparing test results with other carriers of her ancestors' mitochondrial DNA. However, there are no known mtDNA test-takers in her direct maternal line. It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with Karen:

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Comments: 13

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You're the best! Thanks so much for completing the Gentry merge so quickly!
posted by Julie (Miller) Mangano
Hi Karen-

It appears we're 12th cousins once removed sharing Robert Fuller as great grandfather. My 11th and your 12th. Hi cousin. --Cynthia

I am probably driving you crazy, I contacted one of the men who work with me on the Texas history project. Kind of told him what to do and he said he went over and signed up..

name David Selman

posted by Mary Richardson
Hi Karen I posted the Texas project page on the source thon's page as a link. If you click that, midway down the project are the list of Resources entitled in red to catch other's eye!!. When did the name change. As I started with this, it was Dixie Darlings.
posted by Mary Richardson
Hi Karen,

I assumed you all needed Texas sources. I have my list from the Texas project. I can work from them. If any members decide to work on Texas other than myself. What I can do since the it is privacy green is put the sources on the Texas project, then put a link over on that page. How is that???

posted by Mary Richardson
Karen, I've set up a southeastern US Source-a-Thon team. Please join (and help me lead it!) by 'answering' this G2G post: Debi, you indicated interest in being part of a southeastern US team for the upcoming Source a Thon. I've started the team and would love to have you as a member. Please join by 'answering' the following G2G post: http://www.wikitree.com/g2g/297613/join-dixie-darlings-team-the-source-thon-southern-colonies
Welcome to the Mayflower Project, Kay. Please coordinate your changes in g2g. Check in there to see what is happening in the project. Thanks for Joining. Becky Syphers
Hi!

Now that you have had a little time to try WikiTree, there are a few more features you may find useful.

Ideas on what to include in a profile can be found in Styles and Standards, including some tips on writing biographies.

If you need to describe an event, an heirloom or a location relevant to your research, you may like to learn about Free Space Profiles.

Lastly, sometimes you'll run into unresponsive profile managers. We have a process for resolving those unfortunate situations.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask via my profile page.

Shirley Dalton, WikiTree Mentor


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