Kay Balstad passed from this earth on June 20 in Salt Lake City due to heart complications. She was born Alberta “Kay” Folster in Laramie on Oct. 15, 1938, to parents Sara “Alice” and Arnold Albert Folster and big sister Jean (Karl Horton). Five years later, she became a big sister to Sharon.
At age 11, her father was killed in an industrial accident. Her mother remarried, and her new dad, Earl Gaskill, adopted Kay and Sharon and brought with him a new brother, Danny, and sister, Kaye.
In 1957, Kay married Henry Allen Hixson and followed him in his Army career to Texas, Colorado and Italy. Before separating in 1964, they had three children, Sharli, Allen and Nina.
She was a waitress/short order cook at Custer Café in Laramie when she met husband Vernon “Baldy” Balstad, and she gave birth to their daughter, Tami, in 1968. She was employed at the University of Wyoming as a custodian from 1967 until Baldy’s death in 1986. She left Laramie and went with Tami to Denver, where she worked at a dry cleaner for two years.
In 1988, she moved to Evanston to be close to her older daughter. She was a custodian at the Evanston Rec Center before taking a custodian position at Uinta Meadows Elementary and Evanston High School for Uinta County School District No. 1. After becoming allergic to the cleaning chemicals, she took a job at Walmart. She gained many new friends at her jobs, and some of them became more like family.
Kay was a kind and caring woman and made friends easily. She loved crafting, reading, fishing, crocheting, dog-sitting, cracking jokes and doing puzzles. She really enjoyed Facebook, as it made it possible for her to keep in contact with family and friends and reconnect with the Balstad family, many of whom she had lost touch with after Baldy’s death.
She leaves behind sister Sharon (Bob) Coan, daughter Sharli (Tom) Kaltenbach and son, Allen Hixson. She is also survived by grandchildren Vern Kaltenbach, Patty (Ryan) Clark, Jacob (Brittany) Hixson, Amanda (Kyle) Paige, Kara (Tate) Avey, Kaycee and Danielle Hixson, Jessica (Chris) DuPlantis, Justin and Jason Russell, Genny Loughman-Chevalier, Jeremiah and Joseph Loughman, 19 great-grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews (including greats).
She was preceded in death by her parents, Alice and Arnold; stepfathers Earl and Jeff; brother, Danny; husband Baldy; sisters Jean and Kaye; brother-in-law Karl; daughters Tami Loughman and Nina Russell; son-in-law James Russell; grandsons Alois “Ollie” Kaltenbach and Stephen Chevalier; and nephew Steven Horton.
She has been cremated and will join her husband Baldy and daughter Tami in Laramie in June of 2018.
All are welcome to come and share memories with the family from 5-7 p.m. on Friday, June 30, at the Bear River Shelter (by the playground) at the Bear River State Park.
