Mary Elizabeth “Libby” Gay Reese passed away peacefully at her home on November 22, 2008. The daughter of Amos and Mildred Gay was born June 27, 1921 in Kansas City, MO, and was a lifelong resident of the area, most recently in Prairie Village and Mission Hills, KS. She was a graduate of Westport High School where she was a popular student, was voted Beauty Queen and was involved in many activities such as Clay Club, Senior Class Officer, student government, athletics, especially tennis and field hockey, and the Herald staff. She later graduated from Kansas City Junior College where she was active in her sorority and was elected Barnwarming Queen. It was during this time that she met and later married her husband James Glenn Reese of Kansas City.
During WW II she was employed at the Lake City Ordinance Plant along with her husband. She continued to work after he joined the Navy and after the war, while he pursued a degree at the University of Kansas. Before the birth of her son, she became a full time homemaker. Many years later, with her only son in college, Libby re-entered the workplace in the 1970’s as an executive secretary at the Plaza Bank & Trust and later the Marley Company.
Libby was active in many organizations over the years such as Friends of Art, the Sketch Box Committee of the Kansas City Art Institute, and especially, for over 40 years, her beloved Book Club together with many of her closest friends. She was an avid reader and tennis fan. She had many friends in the area to whom she was very devoted. She was especially fond of her grandchildren, and her nephews and nieces and their children.
She was preceded in death by her parents, her brother John Monroe Gay of Houston, TX, and her sister Martha Kratschmer of Knoxville, TN. Libby is survived by her sister Ruth Anne Terry of Phoenix, AZ, her son John David “Rusty” Reese and his wife Naomi, and three grandchildren, Rachel Elizabeth Reese, Alexander James Reese, and Christian David Reese.
A memorial service will be held at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 6401 Wornall Terrace, Kansas City, MO on Friday, November 28, 2008 at 2:00 p.m. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church.
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