Stanley J. Kay

Stanley J. Kay, (69), of New Berlin, WI passed away peacefully on January 22, 2023, with his family by his side.

Stan is survived by his loving daughter, Natalie. He is also survived by his brothers Rick (Sandy) and Mike (Ellen); uncle to Tracy (Cormac), Melissa (Marc), Amanda, Becky (Mike), and Jimmy (Jenna); great uncle to Conor, Ashley, Jack, Evan, AJ, Gigi & Emery; and loving companion to Cindy Perich for the last six years. Stan was predeceased in death by his parents, Stanley and Louise Kay.

Stan was born on January 3, 1954, in Milwaukee, WI. Shortly after graduating from the last graduating class of Don Bosco High School in 1972, Stan joined the Cudahy Police force and worked his way up through the ranks, where he ultimately retired as Captain Kay in 2007. His spare time between 1993 and 2011 was spent coaching and encouraging his daughter, Natalie, through her many hobbies where he never missed a game, recital, or performance - and everyone in the family can vouch that there were a lot of them. Once Natalie went to college, he even travelled around the Midwest to watch her play in club volleyball tournaments. Stan was the most supportive and encouraging parent that a daughter could ask for.

During the warmer months, Stan could regularly be found out on the golf course with his buddies - with his favorite courses being Evergreen, Muskego Lakes, and Western Lakes (except when the greens were bad). During the colder months, Stan would volunteer with the Stars & Stripes Honor Flight as a member of the safety team.

In November of 2006, Stan and Gayle opened Central Bark Doggy Day Care Franklin, pursuing their life-long passion for dogs. He found so much joy in interacting with the “parents” and loving their dogs. When Natalie would ask him why he didn’t own his own dog and he would answer, “I have hundreds of dogs,” because he truly cared for each and every one of them like they were his own.

Stan also was a superfan to many of the great nieces and nephews as he adamantly kept up with their baseball, football, cross country, basketball, and horseback riding activities. Most recently, one of his favorite pastimes was watching his great nephew Evan play baseball, where even the other baseball parents referred to him as “Uncle Stan”.

After selling the doggy day care business and building in 2021 and 2022, respectively, Stan was looking forward to finally enjoying retirement. Unfortunately, since March of 2022, Stan had struggled with complications due to radiation. These complications ultimately led to liver surgery on December 29, 2022. Stan fought hard over the last ten months to push through an inordinate amount of antibiotics and procedures, but despite all that stubbornness God decided to bring him home.

The family would like to thank the staff at Aurora St. Luke’s for taking such good care of Stan during his many hospital stays over the past year. Especially his surgeon, Dr. Sahajpal, for continuing to provide us with hope, to his Surgical ICU Nurse Practitioner Courtney for keeping us stable in the toughest times, and to Dr. Nazir for being constantly available to us and getting us through the hardest moments with reassurance and optimism. We could not have gotten through any of this without you.

Stan’s family will host a funeral visitation and service on Saturday, February 4, 2023, at Max A. Sass & Sons Funeral Home located at 8910 W Drexel Ave., Franklin, WI 53132. The visitation will be held from 9:00am-11:30am with the service beginning at 11:30am. Following the service, a lunch reception will be held at Western Lakes Golf Course located at W287N1963 Oakton Rd. Pewaukee, WI 53072.

If you are unable to attend on February 4th, the service will also be live streamed here: https://www.hdezwebcast.com/show/stanley-j-kay

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to Lucky Mutts Animal Rescue or Aurora St. Luke’s Hepatology Department. If you have any issues with the below links, please contact Natalie.

Lucky Mutts Pet Rescue

(Please add Stan’s name in the optional note space)

Aurora St. Lukes - Hepatology Dept

(Please fill out as “other” program and “hepatology” where it asks you to specify)