Kay F. Sheiss, 71, a key participant in the development and success of Advocates for the Aging of Frederick County and numerous civic ventures in Frederick County over the last forty years, died peacefully at her home in Middletown on February 9, 2023.
Supremely organized and efficient, Kay’s career in event and project management, philanthropic support and administrative oversight began in the commercial world after her graduation from high school in 1969. After moving to Frederick County a decade later, she took on several non-profit projects led by Frederick philanthropist Donald C. Linton, including the organization of the Community Foundation of Frederick County in 1986. Kay laid the groundwork for the Foundation’s earliest success in building an endowment through the Share in the Future Campaign, and her work with the Foundation would continue through the mid-1990’s. During the same period, she provided organizational support for the Maryland School for the Deaf Foundation.
Kay also provided administrative support for fundraising during the building expansion of Federated Charities in the late 1990’s and organized marketing and events at Everedy Square & Shab Row in downtown Frederick.
A project encouraging Frederick County Government to build a new facility for Citizens Care & Rehabilitation Center and Montevue Assisted Living brought Kay back for another job with Don Linton in 2008. Overseeing events celebrating the groundbreaking that year and then the opening of the new buildings in 2012, Kay was also the co-author of the book, Heroic Work: The Story of Montevue, which chronicles the history of Frederick County’s care for the poor and elderly.
Kay was part of the community team that organized to fight the sale of Citizens Care and the closing of Montevue in 2012, and with the success of that effort, was a founding member of Advocates for the Aging of Frederick County in 2014.
She served on the Board of Directors of Advocates, overseeing AAFC’s fund supporting the unmet needs of clients seen through the Frederick County Health Department’s Adult Evaluation and Referral Service (AERS) and played a pivotal role in implementing AAFC’s grants providing assistive devices to low-income seniors. Kay’s attention to detail, ability to work with a broad range of individuals, and commitment to service made these programs work and created the template for their continuing success.