Kay Blanchard Stewart

KAY BLANCHARD STEWART 82 3/1/1941 – 2/25/2024Although they were residents of Walterboro, SC, at the time, James Earl Blanchard and Ruby Lola Cooler Blanchard welcomed Judith Kay, their first child, in Ridgeland, SC. Ruby chose to give birth to Kay in Ridgeland to have the support of her friends and relatives in the Coosawhatchie area. After Kay’s birth, Ruby returned to Walterboro, the city where Kay spent most of her pre-school years. Earl and Ruby relocated to Lobeco, SC, to operate a general store in the heart of Beaufort County’s northern plantations, and Kay attended Lobeco Elementary School from grades one through six. She attended Beaufort Junior High School for grades seven and eight, then grades nine through twelve at Beaufort High School, in Beaufort, SC, where she was an active participant in academic and social clubs. Kay was a popular schoolmate with friends in every class, and she graduated as an honor roll student in 1959. One lifelong friend from neighboring Seabrook who recalled her being very particular about laundering her clothing and always being dressed in the latest style found it amusing when Kay laughingly admitted to her that, one morning while a student at the University of South Carolina, she wore a raincoat over her nightgown to avoid being late for class.Two words best define Kay throughout her life: energetic and active. She was always in motion, whether she was engaged in extra-curricular activities in school, or in the Carteret Street Methodist Church in Beaufort. Beyond school and church activities, Kay’s love of being on, or in, one of Beaufort County’s many waterways were what first came to mind when her name came up in a conversation. While still in grammar school, she regularly set out alone in her little skiff into nearby tributaries of Broad River to pull her crab pot, or to fish, or to cast a net for shrimp. As a high school student, she became a very accomplished aquatic acrobat who was able to perform difficult tricks using one ski, called a slalom, that won cheers and accolades during shows at Beaufort’s annual water festival. Her acrobatics on the water were no doubt enhanced by her many years as a student in Madelyn Pollitzer’s dance studio in Beaufort. Although small in stature, she was an excellent athlete.When Kay was not on, or in, the water in warm weather, she used her time and energy to earn money. During the Christmas season, she clerked at a local department store and learned how to wrap gift packages neatly enough to suit even the hard to please department head. In the fall semester of 1959, Kay entered the University of South Carolina in Columbia. Having decided to be a teacher while a high school student, she prepared herself for the teaching profession at USC. During the summers between college sessions, she always managed to be gainfully employed. Given her love of being near water, it is not surprising that her favorite summer job was her stint as a dockhand at a local marina. A second summer she clerked in an insurance agency; and during her last summer before she graduated from USC, she was a waitress at a plush hotel on Hilton Head Island.After Kay graduated from Carolina in 1963, she took some post-graduate courses then accepted a teaching position at Ridgeland High School, in Ridgeland, SC, where she was employed for several years before accepting a teaching position at Great Falls High School, in Great Falls, SC. This would be a life-changing event, for it was there that she met Harvey Stewart, a widower with two daughters. Harvey was a dedicated classroom teacher first and foremost, but he was best known as the Athletic Director and Head Football Coach of the Great Falls football team.Kay and Harvey were married in the spring of 1969 in a church on a hill in Great Falls. Harvey retired after thirty years of inspiring students in the classroom and on the athletic fields, then he opened Coaches’ Trophies in Lancaster, which was a moderately successful local business. Kay contributed to the family income as an intake counselor at Employment Security and as a financial aid counselor at the University of South Carolina at Lancaster. As a member of the hospital auxiliary at what was then Springs Memorial Hospital in Lancaster, she served in a variety of roles. Kay was also a hospice volunteer.As Harvey’s health deteriorated, she joined him in managing the trophy shop until Harvey decided to close the business and permanently retire to the golf course except for his participation in activities at First United Methodist Church in Lancaster. Kay also was very active in the United Methodist Church in Lancaster. Over the course of many years, she served on most of the church’s administrative committees, and she attended services every Sunday until she was injured in a fall on February 14th, 2022. Although unable to physically attend services after her accident, she joined the congregation via television broadcasts every Sunday and repeated the Apostles Creed aloud in her home with the minister and congregation.One of Kay’s favorite activities was her role as a docent at the South Carolina Governor’s Mansion, where she conducted tours and explained the history of the artifacts in the part of the mansion that was open to the public. She began her service as a docent during Governor Jim Hodges’ administration from 1999 to 2003, and she continued thru Governor Mark Sanford’s two terms from 2003 to 2011. She finally retired during Governor Nikki Haley’s term.To retain her physical stamina and make use of boundless energy, she began walking in the hills of her neighborhood of Forest Hills, covering three miles in an hour while reading a book. This and other examples of her physical capabilities despite her petite frame caused one of her close friends to label her as Mighty Mouse.In 2010, she joined Classmates, a site for high school graduates to inform its members of the activities of other members, and she contacted several of her closest friends from her student days. Among those close friends was Jim Harbour, who was planning to attend his 50th class reunion in Beaufort. Jim resided in Houston, Texas, at the time, and when Kay told him that she would love to see him and invited him to visit her and Harvey in Lancaster if he could find the time, Jim accepted Kay’s invitation. After his visit, he resumed his journey to Beaufort then returned to Houston. He and Kay kept in touch through emails, each of them pleased to have rekindled a friendship that had survived a fifty-one-year gap of communication. After Harvey’s death in October 2011, the friendship that Kay and Jim shared gradually became stronger, and they eventually exchanged vows in an informal Commitment Ceremony at Jim’s home in June 2015. Jim sold his house in Houston then moved to Lancaster in November 2015, and their eight years together were exceptionally rewarding for them both.After rehabilitation from her first stroke on November 10th, 2023, Kay seemed to be on the road to recovery at home until her last stroke on February 2nd, 2024. She was airlifted to Prisma Health Richland Hospital in Columbia, SC, for neurosurgery, but she never rallied, and she passed away on February 25th while in hospice care.In addition to Jim, her life partner, Kay is survived by her two daughters and their families: Mary Carol Stewart and her companion, Ron Patterson of Aiken, South Carolina, and Tina Stewart Gulley and husband Desi, of West Point, Virginia. Tina and Desi gave Kay three grandchildren: Zachary Austin Gulley of Spring Hill, Tennessee; Joshua Stewart Gulley and wife Erika Marriott Gulley of Williamsburg, Virginia; and Jordan Stewart Waclawski and her husband, Christopher Adam Waclawski of Alexandria, Virginia. Joshua and Erika blessed Kay with a great granddaughter, two-year-old Emmaline Grace Stewart Gulley. Jordan and Christopher are expecting their first child in April.A celebration of her life will take place at 2:00 p.m. on April 7th at the First United Methodist Church, 200 West Gay Street, Lancaster, SC 29720. Anyone wishing to share a story about Kay should contact Jim Harbour at 281-787-2066.Memorial contributions may be made to general fund of the First United Methodist Church, 200 West Gay Street, Lancaster, SC 29720, or to St. Jude’s Childrens’ Research Hospital in Memphis, TN, or to a charity of your choice. Notes to the family may be made at www.lancasterfuneralhome.com.Lancaster Funeral Home & Cremation Service is serving the family of Mrs. Stewart.Read Obituary