Obituary of Kay Daniel

Kathryne Louise (Kyle) Daniel, better known as Kay, was born on April 4th 1929. She was the seventh child born to Loyal and Emma (Riesberg) Kyle. She was born at home on the family farm 13 miles north of Flagler Colorado. She attended elementary school at a one room country school named Liberty. As was the custom in those days, Kay moved to town to attend Flagler High School and work after school. She was employed by the local hotel, at the Telephone office, and at the new hospital in Flagler, which is where she found her chosen profession in life--Nursing. After graduating from Flagler High School in 1947 and with the encouragement of the local doctor, Kay attended St. Luke’s School of Nursing in Denver and graduated in 1950. She returned home, working for a short time in Burlington, then moved to Redlands, California, with her good friend and nursing buddy Betty (Crandall) Blach. Within a year she returned to Burlington and was hired as the first County Health Nurse for Kit Carson County. In September of 1951, there was a terrible airplane crash in Flagler and Kay was one of the first sent to the scene of the accident. 20 people were killed and many more were injured--all people she knew and had grown up with. She did not like to talk about it, but years later did comment when they put the memorial up at the park in Flagler, “If we had only known then what we know now, we could have saved more.” Her nursing career spanned over 25 years. She helped deliver many babies, helped set many broken bones, and cared for the elderly. Kay met Raymond Daniel at a dance, and they were married August 7, 1954 in Stratton, Colorado at the St. Charles Catholic Church. They moved to a small apartment in the basement of the hospital in Burlington. Their first son, Stephen Mark, was born the next year, and Kay often spoke of how she had difficulties keeping Stephen downstairs in the apartment as the nurses would encourage him to come upstairs so they could play with him. In 1958, Ray and Kay moved to Colorado Springs where Ray had taken a job at Air Force Academy and Kay worked at Memorial Hospital. While in Colorado Springs, they were blessed with two more children: Donald Raymond and Sue Annette. In 1962, the family moved back to Burlington, and in 1964 they built Grace Manor Nursing Home with Adolf and Mildred Kuemmerlin (Kay’s sister) and Adolf’s brother George. Kay and Ray managed the nursing home for 10 years and sold it in 1974. Their next adventure was a complete overhaul of the Daniel family home five miles south of Burlington. In 1975, they were able to move in. Kay then took a job with the Burlington School District as a cook. She worked there over 20 years and continued to substitute occasionally for what she called “gambling money” until her accident in 2008. In January of 1984, her husband Ray passed away. Her son Donald and wife Glenda moved back home to take over the farming. In 1989, she decided it was time for some changes, so she bought a small house in town, retired from the school district, and did some traveling with her good friends Zeta and Elnora. She was very active and walked almost 3 miles every day. She loved music and dancing, and many road trips were embarked on going to the “singles dances“ in the area. She never lost her love of music and would clap or move her head to the beat. She enjoyed traveling and took many bus trips “up the hill” to Black Hawk/ Central City and tours to different parts of the United States. In January of 2008, Kay was severely injured when she was hit by a car crossing a street in Burlington. After several months in the hospital in Denver and rehabilitation at the Wray Nursing home, she came home in May of 2008. She amazed both her doctors and rehabilitation team with her determination. They thought it would have been August or September before she would be able to go home. But once she set her mind to something, you might as well just get out of the way. There was no stopping her! This unfortunately was the beginning of her slow decline. She had complained before the accident about how she could not remember things and was having to write everything down, but after the accident things got progressively worse until it was not safe for her to be home by herself. In 2011, she moved to The Legacy and in 2013 she moved to Grace Manor where she lived her remaining days. Kay is preceded in death by her husband Raymond, her parents, her daughter-in-law June, and all of her siblings. She is survived by her children Stephen and wife Deb , Donald and wife Glenda , daughter Sue and husband Jack, her grandchildren Staci Daniel (Joel Glass), Brandon Daniel, Monica Weiand (Buddy) , Logan Daniel (Sierra) Kylee Martin (Jon), Justin Highland (Shelby), Nick Webster (Dawn) and Nate Webster ( Ashley). Great grandchildren Silas Glass, Jenny Glass, Bailey Weiand, Nevaeh Martin, baby Martin due in October, Kaden, Kennedy, Chase and Olivia Webster, and many cousins and friends. In a memory book Kay had given to her granddaughter Staci she wrote under the caption, “When I Die, I believe:” “I will be at peace and I hope I can be remembered as making a difference in the world and if there is a heaven I would like to go there.“ We believe she has accomplished all of these things.