KAY LAVON (KRUEGER) DICKSON was born December 30, 1943, in Cresco, Iowa, daughter of Merlyn and Pearl (Schmidt) Krueger. She married Gary D. Dickson of Waterloo, Iowa, on June 21, 1963 at Walnut Street Baptist Church.

Kay graduated from West High School in Waterloo in 1962. She worked at Northwestern Bell and as a secretary at the Walnut Ridge Baptist Church in Waterloo until 1984. She worked at the University of Memphis for 27 years until her retirement in 2012.

Kay was a member of the Walnut Ridge Baptist Church in Waterloo for 32 years, Germantown Baptist Church from 1985 to 2008, and Covenant Baptist Church from 2009 until her death.

She had the gift of hospitality and enjoyed being a hostess at home. She enjoyed being with her sons, daughter-in-law, and two grandsons.

Kay is survived by her husband, of 49 years; two sons Robert of Marion, Arkansas and James and his wife Angela of Kansas City, Missouri; two grandchildren Andrew James “AJ” Dickson and Nicholas Russell Dickson; her mother Pearl M. Krueger of Waterloo, Iowa; one sister Sue Meller and her husband Elvin of Waterloo, Iowa; and two brothers Merlyn Krueger, Jr. of Preston, Minnesota and Davy Krueger and his wife Marlene of Waterloo, Iowa.

She was preceded in death by her father and two infant sons.

Kay Lavon Dickson died on Sunday, October 21, 2012, at the Baptist Trinity Hospice House in Collierville, Tennessee, at the age of 68.