Dr. Barbara Clark Kay

Dr. Barbara Clark Kay, of Stowe, Vermont, died from a glioblastoma brain tumor on February 8th at the age of 79. Dr. Kay was the first woman to open her own dental practice on the North Shore of Boston. She practiced dentistry for over 37 years and always expressed how grateful she was to have enjoyed such a rewarding career. She was loved and admired by her colleagues, staff, and patients.

Barbara was born on July 28, 1945, in Fall River, Massachusetts. She enjoyed a beautiful childhood in Tiverton, Rhode Island, filled with skating on frozen ponds and searching for swordfish from the bow of her father’s fishing boat. She attended Durfee High School, graduated from the University of Vermont in 1967, and went on to earn her dental degree from Tufts University’s School of Dental Medicine. She opened her own dental practice in Danvers in 1975, at a time when only 3% of dentists in the U.S. were women. In addition to running her practice, Barbara volunteered as a clinic teacher at Tufts Dental School. She also held leadership roles in many local dental organizations, including Chair of the North Shore District of the Massachusetts Dental Society, Chair of the New England division of the American College of Dentists, and President of the American Association of Women Dentists (AAWD). A scholarship she helped initiate during her AAWD tenure, the Colgate Research Scholarship Award for Dental Students, still exists today.

Dr. Kay was inducted into two honorary organizations: the American College of Dentists and the International College of Dentists. She also received the Alumni Award from Tufts Dental at her 50th reunion in 2021 and was awarded AAWD’s Dr. Lucy Hobbs Taylor Award in 2009 in recognition of her years spent mentoring young female dentists.

Barbara retired from dentistry in 2007 and later moved to her favorite place, Stowe, Vermont, where she had a wonderful “gang” of skiing, golfing, and hiking friends. She also spent several months each year with her daughter’s family in Seattle, where she engaged in her cherished grandchildren’s daily lives and chose to spend most of the past year there while undergoing cancer treatment. Barbara was an accomplished skier and golfer, enjoying both sports for over 65 years. She loved sharing these passions, as well as her love for travel, with friends and family. If she wasn’t on a trip, she was inevitably planning her next one and felt blessed to have seen so much of the world.

Barbara is survived by her daughter, Deborah Kay Murphy, and her husband, Christopher Murphy; her grandchildren, Brooks and Mikaela Murphy; her sister, Mary Louise Levine; her niece, Cheryl Levine; her nephew, Richard Levine; her former spouse, Philip Max Kay; and her loving extended family and friends. She is predeceased by her late husband, Thomas Winkler, and her parents, Annie and Robert Clark.

A celebration of life will be held on June 21st at 1:00pm at the Stowe Community Church, 137 Main St, Stowe, VT 05672, reception to follow at the Green Mountain Inn. Donations in Dr. Kay’s memory can be made to The Dr. Barbara Clark Kay Research Fund in Biology and Environmental Science at the University of Vermont, or the Stowe Community Church Building Fund.