Obituary of Candace Gay

IN LOVING MEMORY OF CANDACE LEIGH (ADOLPH) GAY The legacy trailing, spreading and growing following the life of Candace Gay is one of treating every living being as a unique individual worthy and deserving of very special care. Candace was pleasant on the surface, but those who knew her best knew she was genuine to the core, disavowed fakery, and saw the world as a place to make better. Candace strived to make the world better, most prominently through eight years of service to Eisenhower Elementary School in Norton, Kansas, and two years as a director of preschool education in Lawrence, Kansas. As a teacher, Candace taught many subjects, but mostly she taught students to love learning and to always love one another. She saw through exteriors. She got to know students for who they really were, and she wanted to give each student what they needed to be a better person. Her students loved her, because she loved them. Candace devoted hundreds of hours each year working her magic through her various roles as Artistic Director and “stage mom” for Norton Community High School drama club, softball coach for Norton Thunder, and assisting the NCHS forensics team. She was an invaluable part of the success of each program, but often found additional less official “duties” as friend, listener, therapist and mentor to many students. When Candace was not busy, which was not often, she loved technology, reading, and spending quality time with her husband, family and animals. Her husband considers her the person most responsible for making him the man he grew to become. She married Brandon Gay on December 29, 2006, at the Claremont Inn, Stratton, Colorado, in the middle of a magically impossible 45 inches of snow. Candace was born November 20, 1980, in Colby. She attended Colby High School, graduating in 1999. What followed was a long line of degrees and academic achievements. She graduated from Colby Community College with an associate’s degree in business administration, The University of Kansas with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, and from Fort Hays State University with a bachelor's degree in elementary education. Most recently she graduated from Fort Hays State University with honors, a 4.0 GPA and a master’s degree in Instructional Technology. Immediate surviving family includes husband, Brandon Gay, Norton; parents Kerry and Kathi Adolph, Lawrence; brother K.C. Adolph, Arlington, Va; sister Chandlar Adolph, Lawrence; grandparents Dick and Julie Adolph, Colby; Grandmother Wylie Glad, Sonoipa, Arizona. Aunts and Uncles Jennifer and AB Smith, Kristin and Greg Issinghoff, Vinnie and Tenley Glad. Numerous other family members, friends, students, and pets. Candace was preceded in death by a great grandmother, Betty Hess, and mother-in-law Carol Gay. CELEBRATION OF LIFE – Monday, March 28, 2016 –10:30 A.M. PLACE – East Campus Auditorium – Norton, Kansas MEMORIALS – Candace Gay Memorial Fund The family of Candace is wanting the community to know they will be staying at the Sleep Inn in Norton and food, memories, and kind gestures can be shared with them there.