Cheney celebrates 102nd birthday at Imperial Manor

Kay Cheney, formerly Kay Edwards, a resident at Imperial Manor, celebrated her 102nd birthday on Tuesday, and the Manor held a birthday party for her. Ms. Cheney has lived at the Manor for two years now, she said. Previous to that she lived in Grant.
Ms. Cheney was born on October 17, 1921 in Illinois, about 100 miles from Chicago. She had one older sibling, Roberta, and “Hip”, and two younger siblings, “Hip” and Lynn, all who have preceded her in death. Her parents were farmers when she was growing up and among other things her father raised Clydesdale horses, some of which were sold to Budweiser, she said.
She graduated from high school in Orion, Illinois, class of 1939. In December 1941, when World War Two broke out she was studying to be a medical doctor but was sidetracked and became a Research Lab Technician. She had stayed in the Chicago area during the war and worked for the Corps of Engineers studying the effects of radiation on humans.
She was involved with the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan in 1945 that ended the war in the Pacific Theater, she said.
After the war she married Harry “Frank” Cheney, in Alamosa, Colorado, who she had known since before the war, and they initially settled in Sacramento, California. Fred had been a mechanic and gunner in the Army Air Corps in Australia during the war and they had moved to California in the 1940’s where the aviation and aerospace industry was growing at the time.
Frank was involved with the Minuteman Missiles as a government contracting officer with Boeing and Lockheed. I earned my pilot’s license in 1973 and I was a licensed pilot for a number of years.
Kay Cheney had three children with Frank, Karen, Royce, and Carita. She also has three grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Though Kay did not resume her studies to be a medical doctor, she enjoyed pursuing art with the medium of oil on canvas. She has also enjoyed scuba diving and is an avid birder and has volunteered with the Audubon Society.
She enjoys poetry and Shakspeare, she said. Her favorite book is the Holy Bible and her favorite verse is John 3:16.
Her husband Frank died of cancer in 1980 and she resided in Sterling, Colorado on a cattle ranch for a period. One of the more interesting things she has done since her husband’s passing is taking a road trip from Colorado to Costa Rica with her son Royce, and at age 90 she went to Hudson Bay to see the Polar bears.
Ms Cheney said she is not surprised she has lived to be a centenarian because other members of her family have lived to be one also. Kay Cheney said she expects to celebrate at least one more birthday.