Sondra Cooley Kay Boie
We are so very sad to share that our dear mom, Sondra Kay Cooley Boie- “Miss Kay,” left us on July 23, 2024, at the age of 86 at Saint Francis Hospital in Cape Girardeau, Mo.
Our mom was born on August 2, 1937, in Alton, Ill. She married our father, Wesley L. Boie (preceded in death, 2009), in December of 1963. They were married at her parents’ home in Anna, Ill., in the presence of her brother and only sibling, Harold L. Cooley (preceded in death, 1991), and her parents, Harold and Lucille (Powles) Cooley (preceded in death, 1974 and 1990, respectively).
After four years of marriage, in the summer of 1967, our parents adopted my brother, Mark Monroe Boie. With the understanding that they were unable to have children, a year later they were surprised when they found out my mom was pregnant, and that I would be arriving in July of 1969. Not long after I was born, we moved to Memphis, Tenn., where our father attended law school. During this time, our mom was a teacher at Immaculate Conception High School in Memphis, a place that she held near and dear.
We moved back to Anna in 1974, and mom began teaching in Anna-Jonesboro at the high school from which she graduated in 1955. She taught English and Humanities from 1975-83. She loved the fine arts, theatre, literature and educating.
From childhood to adulthood, my brother and I recall our parents enjoying annual trips to New Orleans and Natchez, Miss., weekend getaways to Memphis, trips to Ole Miss when we were in college, and they enjoyed coming to visit Dallas-Fort Worth when I resided there in the ‘90s. Our mom would often reminisce about the fondest of memories of those times.
After our father passed in 2009, our mom, at the age of 75, moved back to Memphis to where I had relocated. She loved going out and listening to live music, watching SEC football (“Hotty Toddy”), enjoying Christmas Eves at the Peabody Hotel, riding around Harbor Town on the golf cart, taking road trips to New Orleans and Oxford, Miss., sitting on her beautiful patio and people-watching and spending time with her Regatta Book Club friends.
Things that come to mind when we as a family think about our mom are...she was resilient, she was gregarious, she was smart, she was generous, she was caring, she was witty, she was feisty, she was colorful and she was flashy! She loved decorating, antiquing and collecting. She loved getting her nails done and getting glammed up. She loved jewelry and accessorizing. That was our “Miss Kay”!
Along with Mark’s children (Nick, Kaelyn and Peyton) and our spouses (Emily Pender Boie and Bret S. James), we are her legacy. She was a wonderful mom and loved us well. She always wanted to provide for us the things that she did not have growing up, and she wanted what was best for us. There is no doubt in our minds.
As I sit here at my brother’s home in Anna on July 24th of 2024, reluctantly writing this brief highlighted summary about our mom to share with you all, I think to myself how blessed Mark and I are to have had her as long as we did. She would have turned 87 next week. How remarkable? Today just so happens to be my 55th birthday. I hope to be like her someday when I grow up.
On the morning of Monday, July 22nd, after speaking with Mark, I spent the entire day playing planes, trains and automobiles, trying to get from Tampa, Fla., to Cape Girardeau. I finally arrived just shortly after midnight on the 23rd. She waited for me to get there. Not long after I arrived, she passed peacefully with Mark, Emily and me by her side.
I miss her phone and FaceTime calls already...
-Tracy Boie James
To honor our mom’s wishes, similar to those of our father when he passed, a formal service will not be held. Since they are together now, we would like to celebrate them together. Once scheduled, we will invite all who knew them to drop by, join us and raise a glass in their memory.
To view the obituary and to leave online condolences for the family, visit www.rendlemanhilemanfh.com.
Rendleman & Hileman Funeral Home in Jonesboro is in charge of arrangements.