Grand Chancellor Emeritus Cancie on Sept. 8, 2001, during the dedication of a new Mooseheart school gymnasium in her honor. During that ceremony—ten days before her 93rd birthday the former physical education teacher led the gathering of adults and kids in brief calisthenics!
Katherine “Kay” Cancie, whose 11-year tenure as Grand Chancellor of the Women of the Moose highlighted her more than 68 years of service to the Moose orgnaization, died Feb. 4 at her suburban-Chicago retirement home. She was 97.
Ms. Cancie served the Women of the Moose as its chief executive from January 1968--succeeding the late Zola Kenney--until January 1979. During this period, WOTM membership soared by more than 60%--from less than 231,000 to more than 377,000.
After earning a bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University, Ms. Cancie came to Mooseheart Child City & School in the fall of 1937, hired as a physical education instructor--and enrolled in Mooseheart Chapter 3001 of the Women of the Moose that October.
By 1951, she was Mooseheart’s Director of Physical Education and Recreation, when then-Grand Chancellor Katherine Smith recruited her to come to Women of the Moose headquarters as Director of Chapter Activities. In 1964, when Zola Kenney succeeded the retiring Ms. Smith as Grand Chancellor, she named Ms. Cancie as Grand Recorder--a post historically viewed as the WOTM “second-in-command.” At the end of 1967, she was Director General Paul Schmitz’s choice to rise to chief executive of the women’s organization.
Ms. Cancie, who never married, was recalled as a careful steward of WOTM funds--but also as a robust extrovert and a powerful, forthright speaker with a wry sense of humor.
Grand Chancellor Janet Fregulia said of Ms. Cancie: “Those of us fortunate enough to have known Kay appreciated her foresight, her humor, and her leadership. We learned so much from her, and she’ll live on in our hearts.”
Funeral services were held in Orland Park, IL, a southwest suburb of Chicago; burial was in Pennsylvania, near others from Ms. Cancie’s family.
At Ms. Cancie’s request, memorials in her honor may be sent to Moose Charities, specifically to benefit the Moosehaven LifeCare Center. Mail to Moose Charities, 155 South International Drive, Mooseheart, IL 60539-1100, or visit www.MooseCharities.org.
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Katherine “Kay” Cancie during her mid-1960s tenure as Grand Recorder--which then served as a “second-in-command” office of the Women of the Moose. She served as Grand Chancellor from 1968-79. |
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May/June/July 2006
