Kay Taggart Booth

Nov. 5, 1919 - May 16, 2015

Kay Taggart Booth was born in Cowley on Nov. 5, 1919, to Grant and Fern Taggart. A few years later, she was joined by twin brothers Hal and Cal, who predeceased her in death.

She attended schools in Cowley, spent summers working at Yellowstone Lake Lodge, and after graduating high school, attended Mills College in Oakland, Calif., where she developed a love of the Bay Area.

[caption id="attachment_9927" align="alignright" width="195"] Kay Taggart Booth[/caption]

She graduated from BYU, where she met her husband, Malcolm Booth. They were married in the Salt Lake Temple Aug. 21, 1941, and a few years later had two children, Doug and Cindy. After divorcing in 1954, Kay, Doug and Cindy moved to Denver, where they lived for a number of years. In 1965, Kay married Norman Ballantine of Princeton, N.J., where they resided until Norman died of lymphoma less than a year and a half after their marriage.

After Norman’s death, Kay returned to the Bay Area, where she lived in Oakland. In the Bay Area, Kay was active as a volunteer with the USO, where she eventually became the USO Director of Protocol. In 1972, she was married a third time, this time to Richard Lyons, but this final marriage ended in divorce a few years later and Kay moved to San Francisco.

In the early 1990s, Kay decided to move to Provo, Utah, to be closer to friends and family.

Although she suffered physical decline in her later years, Kay Booth never lost her sense of humor.

“I think I bounced twice,” she commented cheerily when she was found after a fall down her stairs.

Kay was a woman of style and elegance. Her two great passions were travel and jazz, and she often combined the two with frequent jazz cruises.

Kay was surrounded by many helpful friends as she neared the end of her life, including her children and grandchildren, her neighbor Howard Gonzales, her dear friend and caregiver Irene Brown and her nephew Greg Taggart. She died on May 16, 2015, in Provo.

She is survived by her son Doug Booth, her daughter Cindy, her grandsons Chandler Grant Van Schaack and Spencer Gregory Van Schaack and numerous nieces and nephews.