Carol Ray “Kay” Stewart was born March 13, 1929 in rural Cass County, Texas. He passed away July 13, 2022 in San Angelo, Texas. He was predeceased by his parents, Joel Justice and Lula Mae Stewart, his older brother, W.P. Stewart and his younger sister, Rosemary Newton, along with his oldest grandson, Nick Stewart.
Kay attended Andrews High School and was quite the football star and heart throb. Shortly after high school he joined the Navy and spent time on Hawaii and Guam when he wasn’t working as an engineman onboard ship. After being honorably discharged from the Navy on July 8, 1948, Kay attended McMurry University for a short while, then returned to Andrews to work in the oil field. During this time he met the love of his life, Coleta Ann New, who was teaching school in Andrews. They married in May 1952.
Kay spent much of his career in the oil and gas drilling industry starting as a roughneck and going on to driller, tool pusher and then drilling superintendent. Kay and Coleta and their two young sons moved to Brazil as a project director with Parker Drilling. Upon their return to Lubbock in the early sixties Kay attended school at Texas Technological College (now Texas Tech University) and earned a degree in economics. He continued working for Parker Drilling and was promoted to executive VP. From there Kay made a jump to Alaska Airlines as co-chairman of the board. After Alaska Airlines Kay returned to Midland and started Stewart Drilling. After developing a multi rig drilling operation, he recognized the pending industry collapse and sold the rigs. At this point, Kay and Coleta settled onto two sections of ranch land just outside of Mertzon. They named their ranch the 4 Bar S. Although Kay loved the 4 Bar S, he couldn’t stay away from the oil industry. He and Coleta moved to Houston and he went to work as executive VP of Huthnance Offshore International. After working for Huthnance, the call of West Texas took him back to his beloved 4 Bar S Ranch where he pursued his dream of being a rancher. Kay’s commitment to his family, including his entire extended family, is what truly defined him.
In his later years Kay was blessed to be surrounded by dear friends who visited often. In addition, he was fortunate to be assisted by Christine Wolfe, his compassionate aide of over seven years, along with an exceptional team of caregivers.
Kay is survived by Coleta, his wife of 70 years, his two sons and their wives, Mike and Shelley Stewart of Mesquite, Texas, and Glynn and Cindy Stewart of Hollidaysburg, PA, as well as his beloved, younger brother, Mac(Patty) of Cheyenne, WY. He is also survived by four grandsons, Casey, Drew (Bernice), Sam and Zack (Sara) along with four great grandsons, Calvin and Max (Drew and Bernice) and Nick and Jackson (Zack and Sara) and eight nephews and two nieces along with their families.
There will be a short gathering at Johnson’s Lawnhaven Memorial Gardens at 10:30 on Thursday, July 21st for the placement of Kay’s ashes into the niche. In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting memorial donations to the following charities that were important to Kay:
American Veterans (AMVETS) support.amvets.org, American Macular Degeneration Foundation (AMDF) interland3.donorperfect.net, and American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) supporting.afsp.org.
