The LGBT community of Tampa Bay lost an icon and a mentor last month when Kay Thompson passed away on Saturday, Aug. 22. Thompson, who along with her late partner Bobby Smith helped found the Metropolitan Community Church of Tampa, was 84.
Thompson will be remembered for her generosity, according to MCC Tampa pastor Phyllis Hunt, who opened the service.
“She was much loved within the church,” Hunt said after the memorial. “She and Bobby mortgaged their home to buy the first building. They left the church in 2002 for a short period of time but soon returned. She and Bobby will both be much missed.”
Smith passed away earlier this year.
Thompson’s influence reached far beyond the walls of MCC Tampa, however. Potter’s House Fellowship founding pastor Rev. Robert Morgan and Rev. Lee Carlton of the MCC in Mobile, Ala., were on hand to offer words of comfort and share memories of Thompson.
The two hour service was capped with songs and clapping and, according to Carrie West of MC Film Festival, Smith’s remains were placed inside a pillow clasped under the hands of Thompson while she rested in her casket.
“It was a very romantic funeral,” West said. “Bobby and Kay are what legends are made from.”
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Bill Trotter, a popular karaoke jockey who worked at LGBT establishments in Tampa Bay, was killed in a hit and run accident on Monday, Aug. 24.
According to police reports, Trotter’s car was struck by another vehicle that ran a red light at a high rate of speed shortly after 2 a.m. The hit-and-run accident also injured the driver of the other vehicle but Trotter was the only fatality.
A memorial service for Trotter was held in Brandon on Friday, Aug. 28, where fellow KJs, members of the LGBT community and venue owners paid their respects.
Trotter owned Bill & Kyle’s Excellent Karaoke with his partner, Kyle Taplin. The couple recently celebrated 13 years together.
