One of the longest-serving members of the Kansas Supreme Court has died. As KPR's J. Schafer reports, former Chief Justice Kay McFarland was a trailblazer for women working in the field of law and justice.
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Kay McFarland was the first woman to serve on the state's highest court and the first female chief justice in Kansas. McFarland graduated from Washburn Law School at a time when she was the only woman attending law classes full time. She was the first woman elected as a Shawnee County district judge in 1972 and was appointed to the Kansas Supreme Court in 1977. Her pioneering legal career is even more remarkable when you consider that women had just been given the right to vote a mere 15 years before she was born. McFarland retired in 2009. She died Tuesday at the age of 80. I'm J. Schafer.
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Remembering Kay McFarland, Former Kansas Chief Justice
A pioneer for women in the legal world has died. Former Chief Justice Kay McFarland was one of the longest-serving members of the Kansas Supreme Court. She died Tuesday at the age of 80. Ron Keefover (KEEF-over) is a former spokesman for the high court, where he worked with McFarland for decades. KPR's J. Schafer spoke to him about the former chief justice.
That's Ron Keefover, a former spokesman for the Kansas Supreme Court. He was speaking with KPR's J. Schafer about former Chief Justice Kay McFarland, who died Tuesday, at the age of 80. A celebration of her life will be held 10 a.m. Saturday at Penwell-Gable Funeral Home in Topeka.
