Anyone who knows Kay Robinson recognizes her boundless energy and enthusiasm.  An entrepreneur in the truest sense, she has made a life for herself and her three children in Rifle since 1969.

Born outside Cleveland, Ohio, and raised by German immigrant parents with her two brothers, she loved farm life.  She had her first pony at age five.  She grew up enjoying swimming in the lake just across the road, showing her ponies at the local fairs, and being active in the German Club.  By the time she was a teen she was making her own clothes with the money she earned from baby sitting.  One significant memory from her childhood was the day the FBI agents arrived at their door in the early days of WWII.  This was because Kay’s mother was not yet a U.S. citizen.  The agents told family members to stay in the barn while they searched the house for guns and cameras.  The confiscated items were not returned until the end of the war.

 After high school Kay experienced a variety of jobs, trying to explore as many areas as possible.  One job, selling magazines, allowed her to travel all over the Midwest, as far south as Texas.  She met her future husband, Bill, at a horse sale in Pennsylvania, and two years later they were married.  She became a farm wife involved with every aspect of running the farm, as well as teaching horseback riding.

 Her children were two, four, and seven when Bill was killed in a car accident caused by a drunk driver.  The demands of the farm and raising a family didn’t let Kay slow down.  Her riding school grew to one hundred students in the summer, fifty in the spring and fifty in the fall, with the best riders continuing through the winter months.  She even took on the management of a second farm jointly owned by Kay, her attorney, and his wife.  After maintaining this hectic pace for four years, she realized she needed a quieter lifestyle so she could devote more time to her children.  She rented out the farms and moved to Rifle.

 Kay says Rifle has been good to her.  After working for others in several different jobs, including the livestock sale barn, she went into real estate.  Building houses, as well as buying and selling property, has kept her busy, but the love of horses has been the thread that held it all together.  Her son and two daughters all graduated from Rifle High School.  Jess has returned to live in Rifle.

 In 2002 Kay’s dream of building the High Country Cabin in the southwest part of the Flattops, off the Buford Road, came to fruition.  Her busiest time is hunting season, but she has people looking for a getaway spot in both summer and winter as well.  Her energy, industriousness, and outgoing personality have all combined to make this most recent project a great success.

 Kay has not limited her inventiveness to her own businesses.  She has shared her talents by offering weekly trail rides to horse lovers in the 100 Club from April through October.  She also heads up the cross country ski schedule, offering five or six day trips every winter.  Kay suggested the pot luck picnic, which has become an annual tradition.

 Life is good for Kay.  In the fall of 2005 she’s enjoying a wonderful new horse and brand new Blue Merle Australian Shepherd puppy which chews anything within reach. 

by Mimi Baldwin