Mary "Kay" Major

Mary Kathryn Major (89) departed this world to be with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on Thursday, October 27, 2016.  A devout Catholic her entire life, it is only fitting that she went through that door during the Year of Mercy as proclaimed by Pope Francis.

Mary Kathryn (Kay) Major was born in 1927 to Irene (Waller) and Peter Miller in Kellogg Idaho.  She joined her older brother Jim, and they were to become lifelong friends.  Kay grew up surrounded by love and family as seven more siblings eventually joined the Miller household. Her father was the apple of her eye, and she told many precious stories about him. Growing up in the depression era, Kay was never poor in any sense.  She wore Jim’s hand-me-downs and played in the hills above their home for hours.  She stole away to watch movies in the Liberty Theater, which became a lifelong passion of hers.  She wore her hair cut short in a bob, and she was the pitcher on an all-boys fast-pitch softball team.

Kay attended Washington School which was right across the street from her home, and then later Lincoln School on McKinley Ave. While at Lincoln she would run home on her lunch hour (a mile each way) to hear her favorite radio show. One quiet Sunday in 1941 Pearl Harbor was attacked. The next day Kay was sitting in her eighth-grade class when it came over the announcements that the United States had entered the Second World War. Her father, who worked in the deep dark underground of the Bunker Hill mine was spared going to war, for he had nine children to care for, and Irene’s health was fragile.

In 1942 Kay went to boarding school at St. Alphonsus Academy in Wallace, Id.  Here she worked for the nuns to earn her keep.  She cooked, cleaned and ironed. In 1943 Kay returned to Kellogg High School.  She had wonderful memories of her high school years.  Going out dancing was one of her favorite activities, and swing was the music of the times. Her brother Jim joined the U.S. Navy when he graduated in 1944 and went to the south Pacific.  Kay was now the oldest child at home.  During her senior year of high school her father died of black lung, which he got from working in the mines.  This left the children fatherless, the youngest only five years old.  Kay took many of the younger ones under her wing.

After graduating, Kay went to school at Lewis and Clark College in Lewiston. Here she received her provisional teaching certificate after two years.  Her first teaching job was in 1947 at Kingston Elementary.  She had 47 second graders.  Kay did not know how to drive, and so she rode the school bus every day to and from school from her home in Kellogg.  In 1948 Kay transferred to Wardner Elementary in Kellogg where she also taught 2nd grade, then to Sunnyside, which was a new elementary school.

In 1953 Kay took a teaching job in Seattle to be near her younger sister Jaqueline, whom she had mentored through college.  They became best friends, going to the opera, taking ferry boat rides and living the sophisticated life in Seattle.  One day, Kay went to a Jewish synagogue on a blind date set up by the mother of one of her students. Here she fell in love at first sight with a young man named Jerry Major. Less than 24 blissful hours later, Jerry told her that he was going back to his home in British Columbia, but he would like to marry her.  Giddy with infatuation, Kay said yes.  He came back a month later, with the biggest rock of a diamond ring he could find, and swept Kay off her feet to Canada. They were married at Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church in Burnaby.

Kay and Jerry lived the next seven years in the New Westminster area, and further up the Simon Fraser River Valley in places like Chilliwack, Popcom, and Laidlaw. Jerry was a logger, and Kay often said that he had nine lives, meaning he survived several accidents. While in B.C. the happy couple had five children.  Kay absolutely loved being a mother; that’s all she ever wanted to do.  But eventually Jerry was injured in a logging accident, and the saw mill fell on hard times. While he was recovering Kay took a teaching job in Kellogg. Together they purchased a home on Mission Ave., where Kay lived out the rest of her life.

Kay and Jerry brought four more children into the world in Kellogg for a total of nine.  Kay taught at Lincoln school until 1969, when she was expecting her youngest child.  Public school teachers were not allowed to be “with child,” so Kay got a job teaching at St. Rita’s Catholic school.  She enrolled all of her children at St. Rita’s until the school closed in 1972.  Kay then transferred to Pinehurst Elementary.  One day her principal came to her and told her about a new position called “Chapter I” which was for remedial reading.  Kay took the job, and held this position until she retired in 1992.

As a reading teacher, Kay touched innumerable lives.  She passed on her love of reading to countless children. Kay spent thousands of dollars over the years amassing an arsenal of books, which to this day, she could not give them all away.  No child would leave her house without a gift of books, each one lovingly inscribed by Kay.

Starting in 1976, Kay spent her summers with Jerry at Jennis Bay, far up the coast of British Columbia.  Although the two of them raised the family wilderness style with no electricity or running water, Jennis Bay was like a paradise for Kay and the kids. Kay visited Jennis Bay regularly until 2011, and proudly wore her pink Jennis Bay cap until her final days.

In 1983 Jerry passed away at the young age of 56. This is the year Kay began her world travels.  She went to South Africa for the first time to visit her son Peter.  She would travel to the continent of Africa a total of 17 times. Kay and her daughter Kim met Peter in Turkey for a paragliding competition, in Kazakhstan for the Russian space shuttle launch, and in Nepal where they spent a week at the base camp of Mount Everest.

Once bitten with the travel bug, Kay began to accompany the high school travel club and ended up all over the United States, camping in National Parks and visiting historic sites.  Kay’s attention soon turned to pilgrimages.  She visited Fatima in Portugal, Lourdes in France, and Medjugorje in Bosnia.  Kay even went to the Holy Land (during the Intifada!) and bathed in the River Jordan.

Everywhere she went, Kay bought souvenirs, artifacts, and books to share with her students.  After she retired, Kay continued to visit classrooms several times a week reading books and sharing stories of her world travels, and students would travel vicariously with her to these magical places.

Kay also volunteered at the local St. Vincent De Paul store, Habitat for Humanity, and Shoshone Pet Rescue.  Twice a day she would go to the animal shelter, clean kennels and walk the dogs, no matter how cold and dark the morning was.  She did this for 20 years.  Kay even adopted several of the dogs.  They became her best friends.  For all of her service to the people and pets of Kellogg, Kay was nominated for Woman of the Year in 2011.  Kay, however, declined this honor.  She was completely humble and never wanted any attention.

Kay’s greatest comfort in life came from her Catholic faith.  She taught First Communion and Catechism classes for years, participated in numerous bible studies and served on St. Rita’s Parish Council. She was devoted to Our Lady, and prayed the rosary daily.  Kay’s motto was:  If Jesus considers each of us worth dying for, surely we can consider Him worth living for!

Kay is survived by her brother Jim Miller and sisters, Patricia Oliver and Sue Haas.  All nine of her children survive:  Peter and Robyn (South Africa), Christopher (Coeur d’Alene, Id), Jeri-anne and Al Cutler (Deer Lodge, MT), Phillip (Minneapolis, MN), Kimmerly (Priest River, Id), Anthony (Spokane, WA.), Stephen (Spokane, WA.) Timothy (Coeur d’Alene, Id), Allyson (Kellogg, Id.), and 39 grandchildren and great grandchildren.

She is predeceased by her parents Peter and Irene, brothers William, Robert, Peter, and Thomas, sister Jacqueline, and grandson Ethan.

The Rosary will be prayed for Kay on November 11 at 7:00 p.m. and the Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11:00 a.m. on November 12, 2016, both at St. Rita’s Catholic Church in Kellogg, Id. A luncheon will follow immediately. Graveside services will take place at Greenwood cemetery following the luncheon.

Memorials may be made to Shoshone Pet Rescue or any animal charity of the donor’s choice or to Hospice.

Shoshone Funeral Service was entrusted with arrangements.