Mary "Kay" Katherine Phipps

Mary Katherine "Kay" Phipps born March 3, 1941 on a farm northwest of Wray to James F. "Frank" and Dorothy (Klein) Wilson, as the youngest of eight children. Her fondest memories of her youth, the miniature snowdrift inside her bedroom window sash, the ward catalog heated a top the cook stove to keep her "piggies" warm, taking her trusty 22 to get the milk cows home by milking time, the odor of wet feathers while plucking broilers to take to Stephenson's locker plant, taking a shortcut to country school across corn fields, driving the Farmall while brothers filled the wagon with ears of corn, affection for her pet ducks and her special dislike for the old leghorn rooster that flogged her.

She graduated from Wray High School in 1958 and attended Colorado State University for three years. In 1962, Kay married Robert "Bob" Adams, a civil engineer, and they had three children, Andrew, Mary Ann and Timothy Adams. Together Kay and Bob established and operated Adams Engineering. In addition, Kay worked for State Farm Insurance for a few years prior to beginning a career with the Internal Revenue Service in the Denver office. Bob died in 1995. When Kay retired, she returned to Wray in 2002. In 2009, she married Roger Phipps in the Captains Quarters aboard a cruse ship in the water of Juneau, Alaska.

Later in life, she traveled via big bird from Erin to Big Ben, London Town, across the channel to Paris, and the Louvre, to Rome and the Coliseum, the Greek Isles, to Barcelona, Gibralter and Mexico. She toured the Caribbean several times, passed through the Panama Canal, saw the gators of Costa Rica, and up the Baha Peninsula. A bus trip through the Canadian Rockies ending at Victoria Gardens. Time spent in Hawaii, two trips "down under" to Australia and New Zealand. Two trips to Alaska were her favorite. You unpack your bags at the beginning and closed it at the end. A perfect trip!!!

Preceding her in death were her son, Andrew Adams and daughter, Mary Ann Adams as well as her sister and brother-in-law, Helen and Don Weaver, brothers, Robert Wilson and William "Bill" Wilson, and sister-in-law, Betty Wilson.

Surviving members of her family include her husband, Roger Phipps, her son, Timothy Adams, and her granddaughter, Brookelle Adams as well as her sister, Barbara Childress, brother, James F "Jim" Wilson, and two of her brothers and their wives, Charles "Buck" Wilson and his wife, Dee as well as and David "Dave" Wilson and his wife, Anna along with numerous nieces and nephews.

Kay was a voracious reader, a gourmet cook and an avid traveler. She loved planning and organizing trips. She was always eager to share her experiences from trips already taken as well as where she was going next and her plans for getting there.


She passed away on March 14, 2017 in Wray, Colorado.

Cremation was requested. A Memorial service will be held later this summer.

Schmidt-Jones Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.