Kay Brown's Obituary
Katherine (Kay) Brown was born 9/18/1954 in Emmetsburg, IA. She is survived by her mother, Helen Brown, Iowa City, as well as her brothers Bill Brown of Houston; and Joe Brown of Coralville, IA. She is also survived by her five nieces, Lisa Sanchez of Santa Maria, CA; Molly Brown of Coralville, IA; Sarah Raeker, Cedar Falls, IA; Katy Knipper, Iowa City; and Hilary Jensen, also of Iowa City. Kay attended St. Mary’s Grade School and Emmetsburg High School, graduating in 1972. She moved to Kansas City, MO and worked for many years at Hallmark Cards, based in Crown Center in Kansas City as an executive assistant. She then moved to Denver and was employed at Denver Dry Goods in downtown Denver. She enjoyed the Colorado lifestyle and weather, including snow skiing in the winters there. Her next move was to Dallas, where she found employment as an executive assistant at the local retail store Sanger Harris’s downtown location. She enjoyed for the most part working for the company, and that is where she met one of her lifetime friends, Lisa Kennedy, who was a buyer there. When Sanger Harris was acquired by Houston retailer Foley’s Kay accepted a transfer and position with Foley’s in Houston around 1986. Houston was in an economic slump at the time, due to the precipitous drop in oil prices, but that didn’t stop Kay, Patty Emard, Lisa Kennedy and Steve Wahl from getting out and exploring the Bayou City, and helping the economy, at least the retail, restaurant and bar scenes there! After doing her part to revive the Houston economy Kay accepted a position with a small firm doing sports promotions in Dallas. She moved to Dallas in 1997. Eventually she landed a position with Rosewood Properties in the Crescent complex in uptown Dallas. While there she met Sharon, who was instrumental in getting Kay an interview with Rick Slaven. In September 2000 Kay promptly moved over to work with Rick Slaven in commercial real estate, at 2M Properties. In 2004 2M Properties merged with Eiger, creating E2M Properties. Kay had a long term relationship with Rick and Bettye Slaven up until the time of her death. Kay’s long time friend Bonnie Ulm succeeded Kay as the property manager, and they were regulars at Food from Gaililee in Snider Plaza. She also met some of the people who become her lifelong co-workers and friends, including Nonie, Betty Lou, and Debbie Clark. And Bill Daves, the CEO of now E2M Properties has been unbelievably supportive of Kay throughout the whole ordeal of her recent illness. In the early days Mort Meyerson was very involved with 2M Properties, and became one of Kay’s greatest allies in the company. She also met Cynthia McMann early on at 2M Properties, and they hit it off immediately, even though Kay mercilessly imitated Cynthia’s genuine Texas accent! Kay was a master at imitating people, especially unusual or unique accents. One of her specialties was imitating Margie, a character in the movie Fargo. That was not such a stretch, considering we grew up with people who have a strong upper midwestern accent. After living in a number of apartments in Dallas, and managing some properties for Rick Slaven, Kay was finally able to purchase a home of her own, in Richland Oaks, in Richardson. The home had previously been owned by her good friend Ginny, and Kay had always loved the house and neighborhood. She created a beautiful home for herself, as well as her spoiled little dog Lattie, and the loveable cat, Miss Priss. She adored her pets, as well as the pets of everyone else in the neighborhood. But it was the neighbors themselves who became Kay’s extended family. They are the nicest, most genuine and loving people anyone could know. We want to extend a special thanks to two of Kay’s friends and neighbors who were instrumental in organizing this memorial service – Sharon and Courtney. They, along with many others, love Kay like a sister, and she felt the same way about them. At the risk of leaving someone out, I would like to thank some of the other Richland Oaks neighbors for their touching warmth and generosity to Kay for so many years: I know there will be some names left off this list and for that I extend a genuine apology: Sharon & Dennis, Courtney & Jeff, Yvette & Ed, Becky & Mark, Matt & Brent, Marla & Paul, Sherri, Eddie, Clyda & Jim, Mike Fairchild, Susan Bishop, Glenda, Carolyn, Laura, Betty, Carol, Phoebe & Nehemiah; Missy (dog walker extraordinaire). Eddie Bush, neighbor and friend, wrote this brief tribute to Kay: “Kay had this remarkable gift of making everyone feel special. Especially in one-on-one encounters. I think a lot of the neighbors think they are Kay’s best friend! That is just one of Kay’s special gifts. She had a warmth and openness that is quite special. I feel grateful for having had her in my life.” We would also like to thank the kind and professional employees at Restland for their assistance in this process. Kay was a fun, loving, loyal, vivacious sister daughter and friend, and was a great host and the life of the party, and she will be missed by all who knew her. Memorial services will be held Sunday, July 31, 2016 at 3:00PM in The Wildwood Chapel at Restland Funeral Home. Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to Restland Funeral Home and Memorial Park, 13005 Greenville Avenue, Dallas, TX 75243. In lieu of flowers please consider donating to SPCA Dallas, Operation Kindness (Carrollton), or the charity of your choice
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