Kathleen "Kay" Flynn,87

Kathleen Ann Madigan Flynn, known as Kay, died Friday at her home in Adams. She was 87.

She was born on July 26, 1935, in North Tonawanda, N.Y., to Thomas H. Madigan and Ruth R. (Molumby) Madigan. Kay was a baby when her family, which included her older brother John, moved to Chicago where her father, a journalist, found work at the Chicago Tribune.

Her family lived in hotels and took their meals at restaurants. At one of the hotels, a kind man would often buy her candy. When her father learned the man was the gangster Bugsy Siegel, he put a stop to it. Kay grew up reading multiple newspapers every day and going – by herself – to Chicago movie theaters to watch films during Hollywood’s golden age. She was a true city girl.

Kay attended Catholic schools, including Immaculata High School, and had a gift for singing and art. But the stage called to her. While attending Loyola University of Chicago, she honed her skills as an actress and was encouraged by directors to move to New York to pursue a career. Love, however, set her on a different course. She met the dashing Terry Flynn during a production of “A Shoemaker’s Holiday.” He was a steelworker’s son from Gary, Indiana, and was intimidated by her swanky address: 1400 Lake Shore Drive. But Terry’s friend told him to “go for it,” and, after a brief courtship, they were married at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago on Sept. 8, 1956.

In 1957, Kay joined Terry who was stationed with the U.S. Army in the German city of Heilbronn. The two made lifelong friends there and traveled in Germany and France. Kay impressed the local shopkeepers by making an effort to speak German.

Kay and Terry returned to Chicago and started a family with their first of six children in 1958.

In 1960, they moved to Gary where Kay continued to act in theater productions. Kay and Terry held strong convictions about social justice, especially racial inequality. When integration spurred white residents to flee Gary, Kay and Terry stayed in the city, though eventually the violence and unrest forced them to leave in 1970. They moved to Williamstown, Mass., at the urging of Kay’s relatives in North Adams, but Kay always missed city life.

She completed her bachelor’s degree at what was then North Adams State College and worked at the Williams College library until 1989.

Kay was an exceptional researcher and genealogist, tracing the histories of her own family as well as Terry’s. Well before the advent of the internet, she did painstaking and thorough research by traveling to Ireland, Washington, D.C., and other places to examine primary sources and piece together the fascinating stories of her ancestors.

Kay loved her precious children with magnanimous warmth.. She was their greatest champion. She celebrated them at their best and guided them through their worst times. She sang to them in her beautiful soprano voice and entertained them with her gift of storytelling. She imbued in them a keen sense of justice, a passion for the arts and an Irish revolutionary spirit.

In the last stages of her illness, Kay received the highest quality of medical and emotional support from At Home TLC, Inc., and Hospice Care in the Berkshires, Inc.

Kay was preceded in death by Terry; her daughter Bridgid (Michael Ross); her parents; and her brother, John. She is survived by her daughters Deirdre Sullivan (the late Arthur) and Eileen DeLaO (Abraham) and her sons Christopher (Darcy); Kilian (Traci) and Nicholas (Nancy); 12 grandchildren; numerous great-grandchildren and nieces and nephews.

A Liturgy of Christian Burial for Kay will be celebrated at St. Stanislaus Kostka Church in Adams on Friday February 24, 2023 at 11 a.m. A graveside service and reception at the Freight Yard Pub will follow. To add to the Book of Memories, please visit flynndagnolifuneralhomes.com.