Kay Elizabeth Guenther

1949 - 2024

Obituary for Kay (Elizabeth Courrege) Guenther

January 9, 1949 – July 10, 2024

A memorial service for Kay Guenther will be held at West End United Methodist Church in Nashville, Tennessee, at 2 p.m. Saturday, July 27, 2024, with a visitation at the church immediately following the service. Mrs. Guenther, 75, a former resident of Memphis, passed away at her home in Brentwood, Tennessee, on July 10, 2024.

She is survived by her husband of 51 years, Curt Guenther, of Brentwood; her daughter, Elizabeth Guenther McMillan (Brandt) of Brentwood; her son, Ward Guenther (Callie) of Gallatin, Tennessee; and grandchildren Anna Lane and Virginia McMillan, and Ryman, Ruby, Callum, and Quinn Guenther.

She is also survived by her brother, Joe Regard, and his wife, Julie, and her sister-in-law, Margie Regard, all of New Iberia, Louisiana. Other survivors include her brothers-in-law Clint Guenther (Lorie), of Greenwood, Mississippi, and Fred Neil Guenther (Julie) of Madison, Mississippi, and numerous cousins, nieces, nephews, and dear friends.

Mrs. Guenther was the daughter of the late Betty and Keith Courrege of New Iberia, Louisiana. She was preceded in death by her brother Dan Regard of New Iberia.

She attended Mt. Carmel Academy in New Iberia and graduated from the Academy of the Sacred Heart in Grand Coteau, Louisiana, and from Louisiana State University. She received a Master of Science in Social Work degree from the University of Tennessee, Memphis.

Mrs. Guenther was a social worker for 30 years. During the last 25 years of her career, she specialized in early childhood intervention, serving on the staffs of Les Passees, TEAM Evaluation Center, and the Harwood Center, all in Memphis.

She was a communicant of the Church of the Holy Communion in Memphis, where she taught Sunday School, Children's Chapel, and Vacation Bible School.

Kay was devoted to her family and friends and enjoyed nothing more than spending time with them, gathering them together as often as possible for holidays, vacations, birthdays, and other celebrations. She enjoyed Cajun cooking, gardening, and researching her family's history and discussing that subject with her grandchildren and her other relatives.

Kay was loved and admired by all who knew her, for her warmth and compassion, her genuine desire to help people, her keen intellect, and her unbridled joie de vivre. She was pleased that her children's friends often became her friends, too, and enjoyed her company and appreciated her wise motherly counsel. But, without a doubt, her greatest joy since 2011 was being "KayKay" to her beloved grandchildren.

The family requests that any gifts in memory of Mrs. Guenther be made as donations to The Academy of the Sacred Heart in Grand Coteau, Louisiana, or to the Breast Center at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.