Birth date: Jan 25, 1948 Death date: May 26, 2025
With deep sorrow and loving remembrance, we honor the remarkable life of Kay Ann Strawder, who passed away at the age of 77. Born January 25, 1948 in Oakland, California, Kay lived a life defined by learning, unwavering compassion Read Obituary
She was very kind to me not like her brothers, except for Bruce.
She was more like a little sister for my mother, which gave her great comfort
Mother was always missing her family who were all on the east coast. Kay Ann was always great comfort her, when she stayed with us.
I always wanted a big sister, when she would come and stay with us during her summer breaks my wish would come true. I would show her off too all my friends.
She was my mother’s favorite niece and my favorite cousin
Glenn
To the Family of Kay Strawder,
It has taken me a moment to compose this memory. After sharing it with John a few weeks ago, I'm still filled with emotion because Kay Strawder was a colleague, employer, friend, mentor and sister in Christ. Meeting Kay over the telephone in 1999 was like meeting a lifelong agent of encouragement, empowerment and enthusiasm, all at once. When I started to develop my capstone project to complete my master degree in public health, I called Kay. She listened and told me very frankly, "Narrow that down. You have too many ideas; pick one; you're overthinking it." At the end of the chat, I had a thesis with five objectives and a platform from which I have been training community health workers for 12 years. Thanks to Kay, I figured it out. She wasn't wearing the Region IX Office of Women's Health hat that day. Instead, the wisdom of experience, "big Sis," critical thinker and great listener answered the phone; mentoring a "wanna be like you when I grow up," community health worker. That is the woman I learned to respect, admire, love, value and appreciate. Dr. Kay Strawder, extraordinaire woman of God.
The photos include Kay presenting at the Pacific Union Conference Black Ministries retreat for its Pastor & Family Care Retreat Lake Tahoe, 2019. She and cohort, Sheila James facilitated a two-part training about community collaboration and capacity building; engaging the director of Black Ministries, Virgil Childs; and a group photo including Dr. & Mrs. Ricardo Graham, yours truly, Kay, Shiela and Elder Childs.
Kay and I worked together at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Women's Health from March 1998 to May 2020 when I retired. Upon me being hired Kay reached out to welcome me to the team. She explain our role and told me if I needed any assistance to reach out to her. Over the years as I reached out to her we become close; that lead to us praying together, sharing ideas and even eating dinner together the first night when we arrived in Washington, DC for our annual meetings. Kay was one of the kindness, nicest and most considered person that I have ever known. I will always remember Kay and what we shared together personally and professionally.
Joyce Riley-Townser
I am honored to write this tribute to my friend, mentor, and sister in Christ, Kay Ann Strawder. There are countless wonderful things I could share about Kay, but I want to focus on the incredible impact she had on my life and my work and humanitarian work in Haiti which she supported. Her wisdom, encouragement, and unwavering faith profoundly shaped me as a community organizer, grant writer, and director of the One Accord Project—a nonprofit organization committed to serving and empowering the African American faith community. Within the last year we started meeting every Friday morning at 8:00 am virtually to check in about, life, my various projects and to laugh, she had a great sense of humor, and she would also encourage me, give me feedback on my various projects and share her brilliance, support and mentorship and keen insight. I got on our call recently not knowing that she went home to be with our Lord and savior, I am deeply grateful for the lasting deposit Kay made into my life and the lives of so many others. Her legacy lives on in the work we do and the lives we continue to touch. I still get our Friday appointment reminders, but she kept the ultimate appointment.
Thank you, Kay, for being a mentor, a sister, and a friend. Your light will never be forgotten !
