Kay was born and raised in Houghton, Michigan and lived in Munising, Michigan and Neenah and Appleton Wisconsin. She was married to George H. Saunders for 63 years. They had five children, thirteen grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

Kay published 6 books: The Grace of Ordinary Days, Gift of the Strangers, A Whippoorwill Calls for Memories, Pluck, Letters from the Other Side: The Gift of Flannery O'Connor and Only the Footprints are Gone. She also wrote numerous poems, articles, essays and short stories, which were published in magazines, journals and newspapers. Kay was a correspondent for the Catholic newspaper, The Compass, for 20 years, and was a creative writing instructor for Elderhostel at Treehaven, Wisconsin.

She was a member of the National Association of Poetry Therapy, Sacre' Coeur Book Club, Wisconsin Regional Writers Association, Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets, and the Flannery O'Connor Society.