Gleita Kay Edwards

Gleita Kay Edwards, 85, of Mesa, AZ, passed away at her home on November 17, 2024. Kay was born in Chicago, IL, on November 27, 1938, the oldest grandchild and only granddaughter of the six grandchildren of Franklin and Babe Palm of Farragut, IA. She is preceded in death by her parents, uncle and aunts, and a cousin, including her beloved mother and aunt, Mary Evelyn Palm Clemens, and Margaret Glee Palm Morrow.

Kay graduated from East High School in Des Moines, IA, in 1957, and received a Master's Degree in Education in 1987 from Arizona State University. Kay started her teaching career as a first grade teacher, but was a kindergarten teacher for over 20 years, and was named Westside Impact Teacher of the Year in 2003. She loved teaching young people, and giving them a foundation for the rest of their schooling. After she retired, Kay continued to work as a reading tutor for kindergarten to second grade students.

She was a devoted Christian, attending First United Methodist Church in Glendale, AZ, and was a children's acolyte leader and Sunday School teacher there for several years.

Kay was a wonderful mother to her daughters, Ami Brook Edwards of Winter Garden, FL, and Kami Brin Sherrin (and husband James) of Scottsdale, AZ. She raised Brook and Brin on her own, with great strength, and always a dose of sharp humor. She enjoyed cooking and baking, and had a passion for the theater, especially the plays at ASU's Gammage Auditorium. She and Brook took so many special trips together and always made time to see movies together. She was an avid gardener and relished the outdoors, often asking us to take time to "listen to the wind," and spent much time working with plants in her yard with Brin.

Services will follow at a later date. In lieu of flowers for our beautiful, funny, ever-amazing Mom, we ask that you make a donation in her name to one of her favorite charities, the Arbor Day Foundation, Heifer International, Childfund, the National Park Foundation, or the Boyce Thompson Arboretum.