Kathleen 'Kay' Long Sanford

Kathleen "Kay" Elizabeth Long Sanford, 92, passed away Sunday, August 30, 2020, at the Amie Holt Care Center in Buffalo, Wyo.

Kay was born November 5, 1927, in Lincoln, Neb., to Frank E. and Kate Denman Long. She joined her parents and older brother, Denman Murray Long, on the Middle Fork of Crazy Woman Creek Ranch 20 miles south of Buffalo, Wyo. She received her formal education in Buffalo until at sixteen she attended St. Mary's Academy, an all-girls boarding school located in Faribault, Minn. She graduated there from high school in 1945. Kay went on to attend the University of Wyoming, and proudly joined Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. She studied business and education while there. She was an accomplished athlete in swimming, golf, and various other sports.

Kay met and married Norman Lee Sanford of Thermopolis, Wyo., while at the University. She raised a family of four sons while helping Norman manage their growing ranch enterprise in Central Wyoming. She was an avid reader, sports enthusiast (especially when it came to cheering on her sons and grand kids when they competed or performed in events). Kay was a member and contributor for many different organizations: University Wyoming Alumni Board, Hot Springs County Fair Board, Wyoming Stock Growers, Wyoming Wool Growers, Wyoming Farm Bureau, Wyoming Cow Bells, Kappa Kappa Gamma Alumni Association, Daughters of the American Revolution, Buffalo Chamber of Commerce, Jim Gatchell Museum, Johnson County YMCA, and PEO International Society. If there was a need, Kay would always jump in with a helping hand.

Kay was loyal, positive, thoughtful, and always interested in people and their stories. She was a pioneer in healthy lifestyles for her boys, including a morning dose of supplements and vitamins that her sons were required to gulp down before heading out to the school bus. She was passing out ginseng root before it was in vogue! Her interests were many and varied, but her main passion in life was always her family. Loyalty, kindness, and good-neighbor policy was her way of life. Her greatest accomplishment in life was raising four kind and caring men, who in turn passed her legacy down to future generations.

Kay is survived by her sons, Tom, Barney, Norman Lee, and Frank; nine grandchildren; three great-grandchildren, and many nephews and nieces who always helped in the summers on Sanford Ranches.

She was preceded in death by her parents; brother, Denny Long; husband, Norman, and her grandson, Quinton Sanford.

Donations can be made to Amie Holt Care Center in care of Harness Funeral Home. There will be a Celebration of Life at a later date.