Kay Ann Kutzner Blakeley
November 7, 1940 – May 7, 2023
Zebulon – Kay Ann Kutzner Blakeley, 82, transitioned from this life on the morning of Sunday, May 7, 2023. She was born on November 7, 1940 in Adair County, Missouri to the late George McGuire and Mildred Pauline Roebuck Kutzner.
Kay met the love of her life, Joseph ‘Wayne’ Blakeley, while studying at Northeast Missouri State Teacher’s College in Kirksville, MO. Married on June 4, 1960 at Memphis Methodist Episcopal Church, Memphis MO the young couple spent their first year in Charles City, IA. They then moved to Des Moines, IA where they started their family with the birth of their two children. In 1967, Kay finished her undergraduate studies in Music Education at Drake University in Des Moines, IA with an emphasis on piano and voice performance.
Kay touched the lives of many through her career as a Teacher, first in Elementary Music, then Kindergarden, and finally in Special Education. A proud achievement was getting her Master’s Degree in Elementary Administration at Northeast Missouri State University, Kirksville MO in 1978.
Upon retirement, the vagabond life beckoned; and, she and Wayne traveled the country in their fifth-wheel camper. In time, they began splitting the year between Cassville, MO and Mesa, AZ eventually settling in Arizona full-time – where she always found a way to make music wherever life found them.
When Wayne’s health changed in 2020, they moved to Zebulon, NC to be closer to their son. Living independently until the end of 2022, she moved in to Zebulon Rehabilitation where she spent her final days.
Kay is survived by her husband of 62 years, Joseph ‘Wayne’ Blakeley; children, Dean DeWayne Blakeley of Raleigh and Melody Suzanne Savea (Bryan Savea) of Gold River, CA; grandchildren Joshua Oti and Bryan Joseph Savea also of Gold River CA; and sister, Sarah Myers (David Myers) of Memphis, MO.
A service of Remembrance and Celebration will be held at Strickland Funeral Home and Crematory, Wendell NC on Friday, May 12, 2023 at 3:00 pm, officiated by Dr. Christopher C. F. Chapman from First Baptist Church on Salisbury Street, Raleigh NC. The distribution of her cremains will be handled by her children.
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