Kay Moots Fisk

Kay Moots Fisk of Portage, Michigan died peacefully in her home September 25, 2019. Kay Fisk was born Marilyn Kay Moots on April 10, 1936 to Marvin and Enid Moots in the farmhouse of her maternal grandparents Clarence and Grace Maxwell, near Kirksville, Adair County, Missouri. At 11, she moved to a La Plata, where she graduated High School in 1953 and enrolled Northeast Missouri State Teachers College (now Truman State University) where she was an active member of the Alpha Sigma Alpha sorority and received her degree in Home Economics. Kay met her husband Greg Fisk at a local church youth group in Kirksville and married on March 23, 1957, moving to Kansas where Greg pursued a doctorate degree, and the first two of their three children, Karla and Kevin were born. The Fisk family moved to Kirksville in 1962, where Greg taught at Northeast Missouri State Teachers College, and their daughter Kirsten was born. The following year they moved to State College, Pennsylvania for Greg to teach at Penn State University, and where Kay quickly got to know her neighbors while refinishing furniture on the front porch. In the winter of 1968 Kay and Greg moved their family to live in Portage, Michigan. Greg joined the faculty of Western Michigan University They quickly joined the First Baptist Church of Kalamazoo, where they became active members. Kay later served as a Sunday School teacher for the young teens. Kay taught for many years at both Youth Opportunities Unlimited and later in the Kalamazoo Public School system. She loved teaching young people and was both patient and gracious. Kay enthusiastically shared her student success with her family and friends. Kay was an artist and loved to design and create. From her early “couture” sewing for herself and family, to ceramic pottery study, painting, drawing, quilting and multiple fabric arts, she always had a project in the works. She was an active member of the Kalamazoo Log Cabin Quilters. When Kay began to need help with daily living, she was lucky enough to be joined by her “personal assistant” Lisa Andrews. Lisa helped Kay with great sensitivity and loving kindness, so that Kay could live at home for all of her life, as she wished. Kay is preceded in death by her husband of 54 years, Franklin G. “Greg” Fisk (1936-2011). She is survived by her brother Lee (Linda) Moots of La Plata, Missouri and her sister Sue (Lin) Moots Lindley of Hayden, Idaho. She is also survived by her children: Karla Fisk (Philip T. Simpson) of New York City, Kevin Fisk of Kalamazoo, Michigan, and Kirsten Fisk (Douglas Monson) of Holt, Michigan, her grandson, Aeolian Aidan of Kalamazoo, Michigan, and by many nieces and nephews. Kay Fisk’s funeral service will be held Saturday October 5, 12 Noon at First Baptist Church of Kalamazoo, 315 W. Michigan Ave., Kalamazoo, Michigan. The funeral service will be followed by a luncheon at First Baptist Church. (Flowers are welcome.) Memorial contributions in Kay’s name can be made to Ministry with Community: https://ministrywithcommunity.org