Kay Sorgenfrei

Luella Kay Sorgenfrei, 74, of St. Paul, died Saturday, May 1, 2021, at Brookefield Park in St. Paul.

Graveside services will be 12 Noon Thursday at the Elmwood Cemetery in St. Paul. Pastor Michael Wenig will officiate.

Peters Funeral Home of St. Paul is assisting the family.

Memorials are suggested to the family for later designation.

Kay was born on July 11, 1946, at Chappell, the daughter of John J. and Doris J. (Richards) Kearney. As a young girl she moved with her family to Kearney where she began her education, later moving to Grand Island, where she was a 1964 graduate of Grand Island Senior.

She was united in marriage to Robert Lewis Sorgenfrei on Feb. 2, 1974, at Grand Island. Over the years, Kay attended cosmetology school, owned Sheer Reflections salon in Grand Island and taught at the cosmetology school in Kearney.

Later in life she worked as a certified nursing and medication aide at the Grand Island Veterans Home. Robert died Jan. 20, 1997, and she continued to work at the Veterans Home until suffering a heart attack in 2004. She then moved to St. Paul, where she lived with her son and daughter-in-law, Bob and Holly. In November 2019, she moved to Brookefield Park, where she lived the rest of her life.

Kay dearly loved her dogs and her grandchildren and watching the ‘Young and the Restless” soap opera and was a huge fan of professional wrestler, Ric Flair.

Kay is survived by her three children and spouses, Michelle Sorgenfrei-Clark and Douglas Clark of Omaha, Bob and Holly Sorgenfrei of St. Paul and Brian Sorgenfrei of St. Paul; eight grandchildren, Schuyler Hemphill, Breanna Hemphill, Michael Hemphill, Alec Hemphill, Quentin Doncheske, Autumn Doncheske, Mykenna Sorgenfrei and Braxton Sorgenfrei; and a brother and sister-in-law, Keith and Ardis Kearney of Clarinda, IA.

In addition to her husband, Robert, she was preceded in death by her parents; infant son, Robert Dean Sorgenfrei; and brothers, Dick Kearney and Larry Kearney.