Kay N. Woollen

Kay N. Woollen, aged 83, keeled over deader than a mackerel yesterday, Saturday, July 4, 2015. He was born on June 6, 1932, in Hammond, the only child of Dorothea Irene Norcross Woollen (Castana, IA) and William Wesley Woollen (Fairmount, IN). Raised in Dyer, Indiana, he graduated from St. John Township High School in 1950 (now Lake Central) and received a Bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Purdue University in 1954. He earned a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Xavier University’s School of Business Administration in 1961. Kay was so named by his mother “because she only wanted one answer when she wanted him in a crowd of boys.” It was one of the few jokes she pulled in her lifetime. Woollen was an engineer with Cities Service Oil Production Company in 1954-1955 in West Texas, New Mexico, reporting to The 81st Chemical Group at Fort Bragg, N.C. in 1955. He left the Army in 1957 to join General Electric’s Flight Propulsion Laboratories in Evendale (Cincinnati, Ohio). He transferred to the Bearings Gears and Drives Section of GE’s Large Jet Engine Division at the same location in 1958. When the B70 Valkyrie Bomber program was cancelled in late 1949, he moved to GE’s Shelbyville, Indiana Industrial Heating Department as the Industrial Furnace Protective Atmospheres Specialist. In mid-1963, he left GE and joined Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. as a sales engineer for the local area. The local operation became a major Air Products district in 1977. He stayed on until retirement in 1993. Woollen was active in the community in his younger years, serving terms as a director of the Chamber of Commerce, Scuffy, Girls Club and Purdue Alumni Association, Inc. He founded the local Purdue Booster Club and served as president for 12 years. He was active in Rotary and served one term as president. He served one term as president of the Scuffy Board and was drive chairman in 1976. He was the finance chairman for the Shelby County Republican Central Committee for a number of years, active in the Butz for Governor campaign and served for many years on the Shelby County Planning Commission and the Board of Zoning Appeals, most of them as president of both boards. He was active in the First United Methodist Church, the Bicentennial commission, the Shelby County Sesquicentennial Celebration and loved his family very deeply. For his service he received the Sagamore of the Wabash Award from Governor Robert D. Orr. His interest included woodworking, reading and traveling. He was an accomplished woodworker, throughout his life, building his home and making furniture. One year, he asked each of his eight daughters to select a woodworking project. He spent the next year completing the projects. His first wife, Joan Elizabeth Howkinson (Cedar Lake), passed away on September 30, 1983. He happily married Patricia Jean (Hunnell) Engle in 1984. Kay leaves behind his wife of Shelbyville; eight daughters, Elizabeth Woollen of Norman, Oklahoma, Jenny Bittick and husband, Don, of Franklin, Tennessee, Susan Smith and husband, Brian, of Shelbyville, Annette McCorquodale and husband, David, of Avon, Angela Woollen of Shelbyville, Charlotte Moeller of Shelbyville, Deborah Robinson and husband, David, of Shenzhen, China and Susan Hutson and husband, Michael, of Indianapolis; grandchildren, Megan Smith, Ben Smith, Kyle Smith, Joan Bittick, John Bittick, Jacklyn Bittick, Ava McCorquodale, Colin McCorquodale, Tara Brown, Damon McFarland, Barry Robinson, Dana Robinson, Sarah Hutson and Rebekah Hutson; and great-grandchildren, Brayden Brown, Gavin Brown, Gia McFarland and Elle McFarland. He was preceded in death by his parents. He loved his family. He will be missed. He isn’t active anymore! If you want to tip your hat and have a drink, drop by Freeman Family Funeral Homes and Crematory, Carmony-Ewing Chapel, 819 S. Harrison St. in Shelbyville between 4 and 8 p.m. Tuesday, July 7, 2015. Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday, July 8, 2015 at the funeral home, with Rev. Robert Campbell officiating. Memorial contributions may be made to Scuffy, 126 N. Harrison St., Shelbyville, IN 46176, Shelbyville-Shelby County Public Library, 57 W. Broadway St., Shelbyville, IN 46176 or Purdue Booster Scholarship Fund, in care of Blue River Community Foundation, 54 W. Broadway St., Shelbyville, IN 46176.