Vera Jeanette Rogers Kay (Kmechick) Obituary - Visitation & Funeral Information

Vera Jeanette Rogers Kay (Kmechick) died peacefully at home June 5, 2019. She was 101. Born to Oren Davis and Fannie Gosage Rogers in Oklahoma City, Okla., the family moved via covered wagon to a farm north of Boone, Colo., when Vera was six months old. She graduated from Boone High School in 1935 and shortly thereafter set out to make her mark in the bustling city of Pueblo. After working for several years in the kitchens at the state hospital, Vera scored a coveted job in the office at the Colorado Fuel & Iron (CF&I) Co. She met John Lewis Kmechick at “the mill” in 1944. They married May 8, 1946, at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in Pueblo. She also gained a 3-year-old daughter that day: Helen Lee (Leedy), whose mother died during childbirth. In 1950, John and Vera built their house on O’Neal and Azalea. Their son, John Roger, was born June 6, 1957. In 1964, John L. changed the family name to Kay because of the ethnic discrimination the family faced at the time. He died Feb. 16, 2002, after a 44-year career at the mill. Kind, funny and quietly stubborn, Vera was the rock-solid family information vault. She loved to sew, spend time with her siblings and fish with her husband. She lived in her home on Azalea until she was 99. Vera is survived by her sister Velda Jean Rogers Ramsey, Boone; daughter Leedy Gibson (E.J.), Colorado Springs; son John (Suzanne Zorichak), Boulder; grandchildren Andrew Ethan Gibson, Frisco; Christina Marie Kay, New York City; and Daniel John Thomas Kay, Longmont; step-grandson Matthew Jeffrey Hagen, Boulder; and numerous nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband, six sisters and three brothers. The funeral service is 11 a.m. Wednesday, June 12 at Roselawn Funeral Home in Pueblo. Interment to follow at Roselawn Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Sangre de Cristo Hospice Care, 1107 Pueblo Blvd. Way, Pueblo, CO 81005.

Vera Jeanette Rogers Kay (Kmechick)

September 8, 1917 - June 5, 2019