Kay Hind remembered for 50 years of advocacy for the southwest Georgia elderly

ALBANY – A force like Kay Hind doesn’t come along every generation, so she made up for it by spanning several of them as an activist and advocate for the elderly, a role that she relished for nearly a half-century.

Hind, 94, who retired as executive director of the Sowega Council on Aging at the age of 86, died on Monday. Funeral services are planned for Thursday. Visitation will be held at 12:30 p.m. at First Methodist Church of Albany, with funeral services at 2 p.m.

What was the genesis of a regional organization that now serves 14 southwest Georgia counties with services for the elderly started humbly in Albany. Hind’s first initiative was providing nutrition to those who needed meals brought to their homes.

“It started off as a home-delivered meals program,” said Izzie Sadler, who took up the reins as executive director at the Sowega Council on Aging shortly after Hind retired. “She was literally cooking meals and putting them in the trunk of her car and delivering them. She started in 1965.”

Prior to finding her life’s calling of service, Hind worked at 4-H operations in Lee County, but as it required residency there, she had to give it up when she bought a house in Dougherty County. She found a job in Albany at the Information Referral Center for the Elderly, an organization just beginning at the time.

Because of Hind’s involvement with the elderly, the state sought her out, Sadler said.

“Years later, the state started looking for local agencies on aging,” she said. “They contacted Kay. It was an $8,000 contract.”

In the beginning, it was Hind and one elderly assistant who acted as advocates for the seniors with whom they worked. They threw parties for them, transported them to medical appointments and cooperated with agencies that provided support.

During a 2017 interview, Hind told The Albany Herald that the program was initially funded by the Older Americans Act, legislation that passed in 1965. Eventually, those efforts were assisted by United Way of Southwest Georgia starting in the early 1970s. The Albany Housing Authority provided office facilities.

From the initial funds of a few thousand dollars, the budget had grown to $6.5 million by the time Hind retired.

Today the regional office on Society Avenue is named in honor of the trailblazer as the Kay Hind Regional Resources Center.

“Kay was amazing for our agency and for our community,” Sadler said. “She leaves a huge legacy. When she started with the agency, it was literally her and one volunteer, and that turned into the huge nonprofit it is today.

“The staff and our board of directors and clients and providers miss her very much. She’ll be remembered by all.”

Along the way, Hind served on a number of boards and organizations that touched on her mission. Some of those included president of the Southern Association of Area Agencies on Aging and regional representative for the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging. She was a delegate to the White House Conference on Aging in 1971, 1981, 1995 and 2005, and was a charter member and president of the Southern Gerontology Society, which established the Kay Hind Change Agent Award in 2017. In addition she was an inaugural member of the Georgia Council on Aging in 1977.

In 2012 the Georgia House of Representatives awarded Hind with the Distinguished Older Georgian Award, and in 2013 she was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award during an annual Healthy Community Summit hosted by the Georgia Aging Network.

In 2004 she was awarded the Martha Eaves Award for extraordinary and continuing efforts to strengthen the Long Term Ombudsman Program in the state, and in 2012 she was the recipient of Georgia First Lady Sandra Deal’s “With a Servant’s Heart” recognition.

On the day of her grandmother’s passing, Dougherty County School Board member Melissa Strother said that the family had been reminiscing about their matriarch. They remembered Hind, Strother said, as someone always ready to take a trip for an adventure and as someone for whom family came first.

“I don’t know anybody who lived a fuller life,” Strother said. “I said I didn’t know of anybody who’s ever been more of a cheerleader for the people who were in her life. She was optimistic about everything and loved really well.

“She built people up, and it was genuine. She did this for everybody. She made you feel like the most important person in the world when you were with her.”

Hind’s secret to working so long for the area’s senior citizens was that she loved her job, Strother said.

“I don’t think it really felt like work for her,” she said. “Her legacy, it’s just one of love and compassion and caring for anyone that was brought into your path. She was extraordinary. She really was, and she was committed and passionate about everything she did.”