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Kay Margaret Sallee passed away on June 25, 2025.
Kay was born in Arkansas City, Kansas on August 22, 1958 to Lyle and Shirley Sallee.
The family moved to Fort Smith, Arkansas in 1964, where Kay attended elementary and secondary schools, graduating from Southside High School in 1976. She attended Oklahoma Baptist University and graduated in 1980.
Kay moved to Bartlesville, Oklahoma in 1981 to work for Phillips Petroleum. When she retired after a stellar 38-year career in 2019, she was the Chief Information Officer of the Phillips 66 corporation. Kay’s is the quintessential story of an overachiever who made friends at every stop along the way. She began her career at Phillips Petroleum in Marketing in an entry-level position in the credit card division. While in that role she was asked if she had an interest in moving into the new field of Information Technology. With no background in that field, she fearlessly made the leap and proceeded to progress through various roles and leadership levels, landing at the top as the Chief Information Officer, with responsibility for all information services worldwide.
Kay was recognized by CIO magazine in 2005 as one of their global 33 Rising Stars of the year. She was recognized again in 2016 by IBM as a result of the employee opinion survey they conducted on the Phillips 66 IT division. In their recognition of Kay, IBM stated, “We don’t know what you are doing but if we could bottle it and sell it we would make a fortune because we have never seen results this good.” These two honors epitomize Kay’s leadership ability. She was a true servant leader who knew what needed to be done and supported her team every step of the way through her knowledge, motivation, mutual respect and personal kindness. Kay was loved and respected by her co-workers for her passion for the work and the people she worked with.
During her years in Bartlesville, Kay was a community leader, serving on several nonprofit boards, among them Elder Care, the Frank Phillips Foundation--Woolaroc, Truity Credit Union, and the Salvation Army.
Kay was preceded in death by her parents. She is survived by her brother, David (Mary), nephews Andrew (Emily) and Patrick (Chesney), and eight cherished great nephews and nieces: Graham, Benjamin, Anna, Jacob, Avery, Makenna, Lowen and Myla.
Celebration of Life will be held Saturday, August 2, 2025 at 10:00 AM, City Church, Bartlesville, OK.
A reception will follow the service.
Gifts in memory of Kay should be directed to Woolaroc Museum and Wildlife Preserve in Bartlesville.
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