Kay Daugherty, the First Lady of Lexington Park

 

By Kenneth C. Rossignol

ST. MARY’S TODAY’

LEXINGTON PARK --- The long-time better half of the late John T. “Jack” Daugherty, Kay, died this past weekend with services set for the Church of Ascension on Tuesday, June 27, 2006. 

Kay and Jack came to Lexington Park when Jack was assigned to the Patuxent River Naval Air Station after he flew combat missions during WWII in the South Pacific.  A Marine pilot, Jack, and Kay, a school teacher, became an important part of the social, economic, educational and political community from the mid forties until the time of their deaths.

Teaching at the old Great Mills Elementary School, Kay also raised the couple’s two children while at the same time establishing herself as a quiet philanthropist involved in all manner of charities and church work. 

Known for her care and concern for animals, Kay was not only a constant patron of animal welfare groups such as the Animal Welfare League and the Humane Society; she also regularly adopted dogs herself or fostered them in her home.

Katherine W. “Kay” Daugherty provided a lot of balance to her husband, an outgoing and boisterous businessman who not only actively participated in politics but even ran for the state senate himself in 1958.  

Where Jack was a Democrat, Kay was a Republican, where Jack was at good and rough and tumble business and politics, Kay was demur, polite and genteel. 

Where Jack prided himself on making money, Kay quietly gave it away as a patron of the arts, of local starving artists and musicians as well as keeping plenty of puppies in chow.  Even with their children, they balanced life, turning out a teacher, Katie, and a lawyer, Tom.

While Jack started up the old Jack Daugherty’s Merchandise Mart, which became Raley's Furniture, the Esso station, Continental Moving and Storage Company, Hopewell Manor trailer park and many real estate investments; and later Maryland Bank & Trust, Kay taught school, raised the kids and put dinner on the table.
They both were essential parts of the great generation who won the war, got the kids to little league and found time to participate in every possible civic function important to the community.

They were devoted to their own grandchildren and always found it in their hearts and wallets to be generous to many other children in the community.

Where Jack would sputter and pick at his head while turning red when angered, Kay was the epitome of the level-headed, even-tempered lady always in control of her emotions and helping to keep others in control of theirs. 

What they had in common was a love of St. Mary’s County, where they pitched in to make it a better place to live, in every possible way.

Kay’s name is on the plaque outside of the old library, as a trustee, for the fine brick building which the county’s citizens and taxpayers built for the post-war boom town of Lexington Park in 1958, just one of the ways she invested in the town and the county.

Many years and many donated dollars later, the Daugherty-Palmer Commons at St. Mary’s College was named for her parents and for Jack’s.  Their names and their endowments have soared into the millions at the college as well as in Lexington Park with money from the couple going to their church and their community in countless public and private ways.

It was commonplace for Kay to be seen driving around with at least one Labrador in her station wagon and several bags of dog food as she went about her errands or picking up an old friend to take them to a doctor’s appointment.

As the years began to take their toll on her body, they never defeated her spirit, her manners or her genuine kindness for everyone she met. 

Where her late husband’s passing left all knowing that the wake of his days will be rolling back and forth across the local waters for a long time, Kay’s passing will simply leave behind a sweet aroma of spring, touching the memories of many of us for years to come, each time we are able to say, we knew and miss Kay, the First Lady of Lexington Park.