Biography: Kay Jean Torrence McGehee, of Little Rock, Arkansas, passed away peacefully in hospice care with her husband and son at her side on December 16, 2023.  She was 66 years old, born in Pine Bluff, AR on February 7, 1957 to the late Kenneth Gordon Torrence and Imogene “Snooks” Torrence.  For three and a half years, Kay fought cancer, and at every step along the way, she showed everyone who knew her how to accept, fight, live with, and then die with grace and dignity from such a devastating disease. 

Kay’s early life was spent in Pine Bluff, where many lifelong friendships began.  Her family moved to Little Rock, where she went to junior high and then graduated from Hall High School in 1975.  After high school, Kay worked for 15 years as a production manager in the corporate newspaper advertising division of Dillard’s.  She thrived in that environment, which spanned the pre-internet “newspaper wars,” when both major papers were filled with pages of advertising.  It was during that time, through mutual friends, she met and much to his surprise, married Robert E. “Bobby” McGehee, Jr. in June of 1984.  They had a remarkable life together of almost 40 years, including what she always considered her crowning achievement, the birth of their son, Robert E. “Mack” McGehee, III, on May 13, 1995. 

Kay never did anything halfway, and that was obvious every day through her fullest love and commitment to Mack, Bobby, and their friends.  While at Dillard’s, she helped put Bobby through graduate school and when he finished, they moved to Boston, Massachusetts for four years.  She immediately found employment with a small marketing company, Vincent/Curtis where she was well poised to become the coordinating editor for the Vincent/Curtis Educational Registry.  Their offices were right in the middle of the city on Newbury Street.  That was a big adjustment and pretty heady times for a good ol’ southern girl to start taking a bus, two subway lines, and a quarter-mile walk to get to work.  She thrived there as well, though she never missed a chance to remind Bobby of her sacrifice (Kay always hated the cold, and the winters in Boston were long and frigid!), but at the same time, their life there allowed them to fall in love with so many places in New England, like Newport, Rhode Island and the Maine coastline.

She was over-the-top excited when the opportunity arose for them to move back to Little Rock.  She made an incredible home there for over thirty years where she assumed the full-time job of raising Mack—and the probably more challenging role of trying to keep Bobby in check.  Kay loved the ocean, whether it was viewing the Maine coastline, Martha’s Vineyard, the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul, or watching the sailboats in Newport, but her absolute favorite beach vacations were to the Gulf Coast. 

Early on, she fell in love with Lake Ouachita, where for years she and Bobby, their lifelong friends and family, island-camped, and later, made a second home, where they went as often as they possibly could.  She spent literally thousands of hours with friends rafting up in cove and floating all day with either Elvis Presley or Jimmy Buffett playing in the background.  There’s no question: Lake Ouachita was Kay’s happy place, and among her final wishes, she wanted to be buried close to the lake. 

She was the nexus for maintaining so many friendships.  She started a Supper Club over forty years ago with many of those same friends-made-family that continues to this day, and now includes a second and third generation of friends as close as family. Everyone who had the privilege of knowing her are missing her greatly and already feel a palpable void, but today, she is in a better place, and is no longer suffering.  There is great solace in believing and knowing that this time, cancer didn’t win, but that she beat it, on her terms.

Kay is survived by her husband and son, Bobby and Mack; sister-in-law, Michele McGehee Stelter of Richmond, VA; brother-in-law, Chuck Hadfield (Melissa) of Greers Ferry, AR; aunt, Elsie McGehee Buchanan of Vicksburg, MS; uncle, David L. Roselle of St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands; sister, Rebecca Torrence Ray (Bobby) of Alexander, AR; and many nieces and nephews.  She is also remembered by her stepmother-in-law, Dianne Whitehead McGehee and her Mississippi family.  Preceding her in death are her parents; sister, Janet Evelyn Torrence Hadfield; father- and mother-in-law, Robert E. “Bob” and Joreen Roselle McGehee; brother-in-law, Michael Lenoir McGehee.

Kay, Bobby and Mack also want to express their deepest gratitude to Dr. Kostas Arnaoutakis, Donna Westerman, and the staff of Infusion 4 at the UAMS Rockefeller Cancer Institute.  They were always there with anything and everything throughout her entire journey.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a memorial made in Kay’s name to the:  UAMS Dr. Robert E. McGehee Jr. Lecture at “giving.uams.edu”, or mail to: UAMS Office of Institutional Advancement, 4301 W. Markham, Slot #716, Little Rock, AR  72205.

Visitation will be from 5:00-7:00 PM, Wednesday, December 20, 2023; and the Service will be held at 10:00 AM, Thursday, December 21, 2023, both at Ruebel Funeral Home, 6313 W. Markham, Little Rock, AR, 72205.  A private graveside will be held that afternoon at Rock Springs Cemetery on the north side of Lake Ouachita.  Arrangements are under the direction of RuebelFuneralHome.com