Gay Kollmar

 

Gay Kollmar
Gay Kollmar

Gay Kollmar, 76, of Amarillo, Texas passed away on January 20, 2023.

Services will be at 1:00 P.M., Tuesday, January 24, 2023, at Westcliff Bible Church, 5300 W. Amarillo Blvd., with Steve Waterhouse officiating. Burial will be at Llano Cemetery. Arrangements are by Boxwell Brothers Funeral Directors, 2800 Paramount Blvd.

Gay was born in Phillips, Texas on December 28, 1946, to Zelda and JD Edmondson. She attended Phillips schools graduating in 1965. She earned a degree in music education at Texas Tech University, followed by a master’s degree in Applied Voice. Gay taught middle school music for two years in Big Spring, Texas. She met her future husband in Big Spring and moved to Valdosta, Georgia, where her husband was stationed in the Air Force. Their wedding was in December 1973. During their Air Force years, Gay and her family lived in Georgia, San Antonio, Texas, Phoenix, and Alamogordo, New Mexico. Following Air Force service, Gay, Ben, and their two children, Sara and Reagan, lived in Saudi Arabia for four years. Those years included travel to various countries including European, Thailand, and Singapore, as well as Mediterranean and African nations.

Returning to the USA, and after working their school-related business, the family returned to the Texas Panhandle where Ben was employed at Pantex. Gay and her family lived for the next 29 years in Amarillo, Texas. During her life, Gay often sang at events, weddings, church services, etc., usually leaving the ladies in tears. She was baptized as a young girl and remained a committed follower of Jesus Christ for the rest of her life. Although she is missed by all who knew her, everyone is greatly comforted by the assurance of her present happiness and eternal joy in heaven.

Gay was preceded in death by her mother and father; and brother, Ronald Edmondson.

She leaves behind her adoring husband, Ben Kollmar; a daughter, Sara Kollmar; a son Reagan Kollmar; a sister-in-law, Kay Edmondson; and Kay’s three sons, Cary, Kyle, and Cory, and their wives and children.

The family will receive friends from 6:00 P.M. – 7:00 P.M., Monday, January 23, 2023, at Boxwell Brothers Funeral Home.

18 Replies to “Gay Kollmar”

  1. She came home in 1983 to sing “How Great Thou Art” at my MeeMaw’s (Helena Cromer) funeral at FBC Phillips. She sang through tears, having just visited Helena on a previous trip home, and never missed a note. Only met her twice in my life, but she made a lasting impression.

  2. Ben
    I was a high school classmate of Gay Lynn as she was known then. I have seen her at reunions and Christmas cards and an occasional phone call. I have such fond memories of her. She was always upbeat and would find something to chuckle or belly laugh about. When my Mom died many years ago she called and came by the house. It meant so much to me. I’m door for your loss. Your good memories will be a comfort.

  3. What a beautiful tribute to your loving Godly
    Woman who knows Jesus as her Lord and Savior.
    Her sweetness will be missed everyday on earth but knowing you will reunited one day
    Is reassuring.
    Thinking of you at this tender time.

  4. Ben,

    Wishing you comfort in your time of grief. Loss of someone so close can be heart rending. At these times family is so important, offering you the strength to accept life’s inevitable turns.

    Best to you and yours,
    Robert Jones
    Indianola

  5. Ben–I am so sorry for your loss. I am sorrier that Gay and I only connected when it was time for a Phillips reunion. She was a dear friend, and we just didn’t spend enough time together in our “Golden Years.” I will never forget her or her beautiful voice. If you would like to share how she passed, please reach out to me at [email protected]. You and your children are in my prayers today.
    Carol Carter

  6. Gay was one of my group of book worms at Westcliff Bible Church and we traded books back and forth. We would always laugh and talk about the books we had read that past week. I will miss her wonderful smile and pure joy that showed in her eyes. Rest in Peace Gay and enjoy sitting at the feet of Jesus.

  7. It was a good Goodbye🙏. God sent this little Angel to me 2 years ago. It was obvious from day one that our coming together was by Divine Appointment and that God had assigned her to me and it was equally obvious He had assigned me to her. Jeff would laugh and say y’all are two peas in a pod 🙂For the past 2 years at 11:00 am we have spent an hour together every MWF strengening Gay’s body and my Faith. We walked , lifted weights, rode the bikes, and laughed and loved and prayed together and while it may have looked like regular exercise therapy to the outside world it was anything but regular exercise . Gay was a prayer warrior. She knew I had trouble sleeping and every day she would ask me if I slept good last night and of course since I’ve met Gay I have slept better and when I would say Yes she would smile and take the credit for her and God had been working on my sleep and she would say I knew it “I was praying all night for you “ Gay was a ball of energy and busy like me so she also needed sleep and lots of exercise and so it went on if I was awake at night I would pray for Gay to sleep and if she was awake she would pray for me. She prayed for people in the gym she knew were going through difficult times, she even took down little notes so she wouldn’t forget their prayer request. She prayed diligently for Cy and Jeff and my mom and all of my family. Every time I saw her she would ask if I had a special prayer request. And she didn’t mind asking me to pray for her. And I definitely did. Every day we talked about Jesus and Heaven. She was excited about the KNOWLEDGE SHE HAD IN KNOWING she would BE IN HEAVEN when her time on Earth was over and she knew JESUS AS HER LORD AND SAVIOR. Daily she would say “I can’t wait to go to Heaven and see Jesus face to face, see my mom and all my family who have gone before me and meet and hug your RAE” I can’t imagine the love those two are encountering as they worship the Lord together in Heaven right now. Gay had a gift of pure Joy and she loved everyone. She was kind and enjoyed visiting with people. She never had a cell phone that I know of and she was never distracted by things of this world. At the end of every session we would hug and say I love you. Wednesday at the end of our session we hugged and said I love you and then at the same time we both turned around as we were walking away from each other and blew each other a kiss . It felt like that moment was stored automatically in my long term memory right away …and now I know why … it was a good goodbye . I will miss her so much but I’m excited for her as well …just Wednesday she said can you even imagine all the colors we are going to see in Heaven one day? She throws up her arms and said “ I hope Jesus comes soon I just can’t wait to go to Heaven and be with him forever “ And she didn’t have to wait much longer. I know she heard those precious words “Well Done My Good and Faithful Servant “🙏 what a great blessing this little angel had been in my life . Thank you God for allowing me to know and love her.
    Please pray for family her daughter Sara, her son Reagan and her amazing husband Ben she adored them.

    1. Thank you so much for sharing about Gay. Even though I never met her it has made me feel like I really know her and am so happy she is with God in heaven. I went to school with Ben and he was a great person.

  8. Gay was one of the first people that I met when I moved to Amarillo. She was Abby’s teacher at BSF and the next year she moved up to the older class and taught Sarah. We were so excited when we started coming to Westcliff and saw a welcoming face. She was full of joy and prayed for my girls faithfully. We affectionally called her “Apple Granny”! I think she was just as excited as I was about the birth of Eleanor! I will always remember her for her steadfast prayer life, joy and smile. I am sure she heard the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” She will be missed here on earth and I look forward to our reunion in heaven.

  9. Gay, you were always such a joy to be around! You “showed me the ropes” at Dillard’s a million moons ago, and did it all with that radiant smile you had! I am blessed to have known you, I’m praying for strength for your sweet family.

  10. What beautiful woman ! Mrs. Kollmar, it was SUCH an honor to know you and talk to you about all the good food we both enjoyed. We will take care of Benny here at work and make sure he will continue to eat healthy. Love from all of us here at Pro-Force

  11. She was a wonderful friend…so loving and kind and had such a good sense of humor. Her voice was beautiful; I loved to hear her sing. She was so humble about her abilities. I never once heard her brag about her talents. I loved her so much and miss her greatly. My only comfort is knowing that she is happy with Jesus. He was always first and her family was always next in her thoughts. She was the epitome of the virtuous woman of Proverbs.

    1. Gloria, what wonderful comments. Thank you so much. As you might know, you were a special friend to Gay. She loved you much. Your high opinion of her comforts us.

  12. Gay had a beautiful soprano voice and was an anchor in our church choir at Westcliff Bible church. She was also a beautiful and loving woman. She will be sorely missed. We all loved her very much. She is probably singing with the Angels right now in heaven. Praise to our Lord and Savior for allowing her to be in our lives. May God grant comfort to Gay’s family and friends.

  13. Such a sweet and beautiful lady. I did not know her… mostly through her close friendship with a cousin, but it was always uplifting to be with her. Sympathy and prayers for her family.

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