You Can Not Make this Up.

The Most Romantic Funeral Ever
There was a lesbian couple who were pillars of the Tampa LGBT Community. Their names were Bobby & Kay. The South Tampa couple had been together for over 50+ years. In her 80’s Bobby passed away. We all went to the funeral. Notes were placed in the coffin and she was cremated. A short 6 months later Miss Kay passed away. Miss Kay was what you would call a lipstick lesbian. Always dressed up with full hair & makeup too. In the coffin she looked like a Sleeping Princess. Hair was piled high & perfect a big beautiful broach pined on. Her hands had a french manicure and were folder over and resting on a pillow. During the beautiful service  both names were used together as one. The next day everybody learned the secret. In the pillow were Bobby ashes. Yes the two women who were so in love were now buried together. Bobby & Kay are together for ever.
Below is the articled we wrote 4 years ago…..
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Dishing with Mark & Carrie
8-26-09
Two Sad Deaths in the Tampa Bay GLBTA Community this Week.
Goode Bye “Miss Kay” Thompson
Saturday, August 22, 2008 at 1 AM was the end of an era in the Tampa GLBT Community. Tampa Gay pioneer, activist, founder and tender loving classy Southern Belle, Miss Kay Thompson passed away. Kay was the loving Aunt, Mother and Friend to many in our community. Just a few months earlier Kay’s life partner of 50+ years, Bobby Smith had passed away. For many of us, they were one person “Bobby & Kay”!  Bobby, who was born a woman, lived his life as a man. Bobby was also a photographer who started to document the GLBT life in Tampa from the early 1940’s. Bar names in the community like Knotty Pine, Jimmy White’s, Coco Joe’s and so many more places are captured in pics. Today many of his photos are in the GLBT Archives at USF. In the 1960’s Bobby met his life partner, Miss Kay!  Together they purchased a home in South Tampa just off Bayshore Blvd. Bobby went to work at Golden Triangle Photography & Miss Kay opened her flower shop, Ashley Florists on MacDill Ave. across from Palma Ceia  Country Club. A note of unsolicited gratitude to Miss Kay for all the flowers she gave to AIDS victims funerals in Tampa Bay. ” She did it because others wouldn’t and were afraid.” she had told me years ago. Several years later Bobby & Kay , together with a handful of close friends, contacted Rev Troy Perry & were founding members of Metropolitan Community Church Tampa. Together Bobby & Kay lead our community by example.  Always loving and caring yet tough as nails. Never afraid to stand up to homophobia, human rights & injustice. They both were always at every major and minor GLBT Event, Demonstration & Celebration. Gay Prides, March on Washington, Film Festival, MCC Tampa… They were everywhere!!!  In their later years, the two were always surrounded by many friends.  Their extended family was beyond huge! The only comfort we have is in the fact that Bobby & Kay are together again in heaven.
Bobby & Kay are what legends are made from!
To see more photos from the Bobby & Kay collection visit.
click on my pics
A Very Romantic Funeral
Last night we said our good byes to “Miss Kay”  Thompson. It was one of the most romantic funerals we have ever been to!!! Miss Kay was laid to rest in a beautiful powder blue coffin with chrome accents. Miss Kay was wearing a  very pretty red dress with a signature flashy gold pin. The way she always dressed, classy! Her hands were folded over a pillow with a photo of Bobby on it. The church was filled with flowers, music & memories.  Even Miss Kay’s pet song bird was there chirping. Kay’s Celebration of Life service was opened by MCC Tampa Senior Pastor, Rev. Phyllis Hunt & Founding Pastor of MCC Tampa, Rev Lee Carlton, now Senior Pastor at Mobile MCC. Also officiating were The Founding pastor of Tampa’s Potter’s House Fellowship, Rev Robert Morgan, Rev Todd Goewey and Rev. Dr. Kathy Rooke. At the start of the service the casket was closed and sealed for the final time. The 2 hour service was filled with many happy memories voiced of local Gay Rights pioneer couple, Bobby Smith & Kay Thompson. How they met in the 1950’s & founding days of MCC Tampa and their life together. The service was kinda like a part two since Bobby’s passing and funeral was just a few months before and you just couldn’t talk about one with out the other. At the closing as Miss Kay was escorted out, hands were clapping & people were moving & dancing to the hymn, “I’ll Fly Away”.  Now for the very romantic part…… Remember the pillow that Miss Kay’s hands were resting on with Bobby’s photo.  Inside that pillow were the cremated ashes of Bobby. May they rest together in peace forever.
From Tampa Bay Times

Epilogue: A man at heart and in manner withstood a polarizing era

Stephanie Hayes, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Sunday, May 11, 2008

TAMPA — Some of Bobby Smith’s friends and cousins didn’t even know.

He was male, through and through — clothes, hair, mannerisms. He worked hard and paid the bills. He went to church each week. The love of his life, Kay, cooked dinner and cleaned their South Tampa home.

He lived confidently and no one questioned — for a while, not even his co-workers.

Then one day, he needed a hysterectomy.

He was called into the company HR office and was asked about the doctors and surgery report and operation.

• • •

Smith’s family and friends say “he.”

It’s not that the word “she” offended Smith. He didn’t hide the truth if someone asked. He was physically always a woman.

But he was never really a girl.

“It’s amazing, even in his baby pictures, he looks like a boy,” said Smith’s friend, Derald Gingerich. “I think if there was ever a case for a man inside a woman’s body, it was Bobby.”

He was born in Georgia. His father taught him to box. Smith begrudgingly wore dresses to school, then changed into overalls first thing after.

“I’ve always liked boy’s clothes,” Smith told the St. Petersburg Times in 1992. “I didn’t go to college because I would have had to wear a dress. But I took a look in the mirror and said, ‘You can go and make it big in the world, or you can be at peace with yourself and eat beans.'”

At 15, Smith kissed a girl for the first time. His mother hauled him to the doctor, called him crazy and forced him to take “female hog hormones” to make him right.

He wore men’s briefs and cut his hair. He read The Well of Loneliness, by lesbian author Radclyffe Hall.

Smith was openly gay during a polarizing era. He endured humiliation and belittlement. In the late 1940s, police in the midst of a gay witch hunt picked him up and forced him to strip.

On Thanksgiving in 1959, he met a woman named Kay Thompson at a bar. Thompson wasn’t sure if this skinny dance partner in slacks was a man or a woman. But she didn’t care.

“I met Bobby and we just got along,” said Thompson, 84.

They had a commitment ceremony in 1960 at the home of Smith’s mother, who stayed in her room. Smith wore a suit and Thompson wore a gown. They had cake.

Smith worked as a dark room technician and photographer. They settled into Thompson’s South Tampa home. They baked cakes at Christmas. Smith always turned out the lights in the kitchen to save money.

The couple positioned his and hers recliners in front of the television. They sat this way, always.

• • •

They inspired many people in Tampa’s gay community.

They marched on Washington and lobbied local council leaders. They mortgaged their house to help build Metropolitan Community Church of Tampa, a Christian church that welcomes gay people.

“We would not be where we are today… without Bobby’s passion and dedication to his principles and his faith and his belief that everybody ought to be respected,” said Phyllis Hunt, pastor of MCC Tampa.

Eventually, Thompson broke her hip and needed full care. Smith became exhausted and had some falls of his own. He had a strong heart but may have suffered ministrokes. He lost the will to live.

One night, Thompson said, Smith looked limp. She was in pain, but she got out of her chair. She stood next to him for the longest time, holding his hand.

On May 2, he died. He was 84.

Stephanie Hayes can be reached at shayes@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8857.