Kansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Kay McFarland, '64, Passes Away

Photographs: Kay McFarlandFormer Kansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Kay McFarland, '64, passed away on August 18 at her home after an illness.  She was 80.  Justice McFarland was the court's first female member and its only female chief justice. Prior to her appointment to the Supreme Court in 1977, she was the first woman elected as a Shawnee County District Court judge. 

According to a story in the Topeka Capital-Journal, "Howard Schwartz, the state’s judicial administrator from 1973 to 2012, said he worked with seven chief justices — and McFarland was the most beloved of all.'”

Justice McFarland will be missed by the Washburn Law family. Her obituary can be found at Penwell-Gabel.