Jo Kaye Highstrete

Jo Kaye Highstrete, also known as Wild West Grandma ("WWG"), lived in many places, traveled the world, and passed away peacefully at age 91 in Wayland, MA, with her family by her side.
Jo Kaye was best known for her strong spirit, dedication to family, and her love of learning and adventures.
Born Jo Kaye Meek in Anadarko, Oklahoma, the only child of Katherine (Williams) and Marvin Meek, she grew up in Fort Cobb, OK. Jo Kaye went on to graduate from the University of Oklahoma with a bachelor's degree in Home Economics. Surprising her family, she took a teaching job in Los Angeles immediately after graduation and bravely embarked on a new life on her own in the west. She loved living near the ocean experiencing the LA jazz scene. She went on to complete a master's degree from UCLA and taught at the college level for several years until she married Bruce Highstrete and started a family. Jo Kaye was instrumental in supporting Bruce in his career at Hughes Aircraft Company, laying groundwork for his eventual rise to Executive Vice President.
She cherished memories of early days in Boston for the MIT Sloan management program and maintained connections with those colleagues and close friends throughout her life.
Jo Kaye prided herself in having lived in different places and embracing each of them. She raised her children Clark and Laura on an avocado farm in Bonsall, CA and became an amateur expert in whatever interested them, from horses and sheep, to swimming and science, to archery and baseball. After the kids went to college, Jo Kaye took night classes to obtain her second master's degree in Public Administration from Chapman College, took a job at USC and moved to Pasadena near Clark who was attending Caltech. When Laura moved to Houston for medical school and Clark was making plans for flight school in the Air Force, Jo Kaye moved to Houston to work as Graduate Program Director for the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Baylor College of Medicine. She embraced the Texas culture, and the Guatemalan culture of her son-in law Estuardo, and introduced Clark to his wife Pam. She took up new sports like sculling which she did for the rest of her life.
Jo Kaye embraced her role as grandmother, supporting her four grandchildren Lucrecia, Karina, Ren and Thomas, to become the amazing unique people they are today. When Laura's family moved to Boston, she retired and helped Laura's family get settled. Then Wild West Grandma moved back west to Santa Fe, NM near Clark's family in Albuquerque and closer to her parents in Oklahoma, whom she devotedly cared for. In Santa Fe, Jo Kaye became well-known in the Native American community working at the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, supporting local artists and leading many trips to pueblos and reservations throughout the region. She also led the social committee and planned many memorable events in her beloved Quail Run community.
In 2020, she moved to Spinnaker Island in Hull, MA to be near Laura's family and her beloved ocean. Despite the pandemic and the culture shock, she embraced Hull, becoming an active volunteer at the Hull Lifesaving Museum and the Hull Senior Center.
She bought an Adirondack guide boat and enjoyed rowing it around the bay with family, a tricycle to bike around the island and became a writer, sharing the stories of her adventures with friends and family. She continued to plan adventures and live vicariously through others until the end.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to one of her supported causes such as https://hulllifesavingmuseum.org/ or https://wheelwright.org/ or https://www.swaia.org/