Kay Marie Kendall

Kay Marie Kendall, 75, of Chattanooga, beloved wife, mother, grandmother, sister, friend, teacher, and spiritual director, died on Wednesday, January 25, 2023, when her spirit passed into the presence of her heavenly Father and her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The elder daughter of Otis and Ruth Burns, Kay Marie grew up in Maryville, Tennessee, graduated from Maryville High School, and received her Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics from The University of Tennessee. By the grace of a loving and merciful God, Kay Marie was brought to faith in Christ at the age of nine; and in her second year in college she was introduced to the young man who would be, for the rest of her life, her sweetheart, husband, life-mate, the under-shepherd of her family, the father of her children, and the highest earthly joy of her life, Hugh (“Ken”) Kendall, of Ducktown, Tennessee. After their graduation from college, Kay Marie and Ken were married, and after he finished law school they moved to Chattanooga, where Ken began his law practice. After college, Kay Marie worked as a computer-programmer for the Aluminum Company of America in Alcoa, Tennessee, and Provident Life & Accident Insurance Company in Chattanooga. After her boys went away to college, Kay Marie worked as the administrative assistant and editor-in-chief of Living Free Ministries in Chattanooga. Ken, their sons Jonathan and David, their daughters-in-law Colleen and JanaRae, and their grandsons, Caleb and Leo, were the source of immense joy and pleasure to her. Although her children and grandchildren lived out-of-town, Kay Marie was continuously involved in their lives through her daily prayers. Second only to the nurture and care of her natural-family, Kay Marie’s consuming passion was her ministry to an extended faith-family of beloved-ones whom she had the measureless joy to teach and minister to for more than forty years in bible classes, women’s conferences and retreats, small-group studies, and one-to-one personal ministry. When dementia in her later years limited her ability to teach and to drive, Kay Marie continued her bible teaching and personal ministry through calls, cards, texts, and e-mails. Kay Marie was predeceased by her parents. She is survived by her loving husband of 53 years, her sons, daughters-in-law, and grandsons, and by her sister Carol Minnis and Carol’s husband, Jeff, and their daughter, Carrie Schambers, and Carrie’s husband, Niles. A memorial service will take place in the sanctuary of Brainerd Baptist Church in Chattanooga at 12:00 (noon), Saturday, February 4th. The family will receive friends in the sanctuary prior to the service, beginning at 10:00 o’clock.