Kay Granger

Norvell Kay Granger was born on January 18, 1943, in Greenville, Texas, the daughter of Norvel and Alliene Mullendore. She grew up in Fort Worth's Meadowbrook neighborhood — attending Meadowbrook Elementary, Meadowbrook Middle School, and worshipping at Meadowbrook United Methodist Church — a community that rooted her deeply in the values she would carry throughout her life. She often said that most of Fort Worth was just like the place she grew up in, and she never forgot it. Kay graduated from Eastern Hills High School in 1961 and went on to earn a Bachelor of Science in English and Home Economics from Texas Wesleyan University in 1965. She spent the next nine years teaching English and journalism in the Birdville School District, following in the footsteps of her mother, Alliene — a pioneering educator who became the first woman to chair the Birdville ISD board and the first female principal in that district. "She was the most important person to me, without a doubt," Kay said of her mother. "The women in my family are strong women." After her marriage to John Granger in 1964 and the births of their three children — J.D., Brandon, and Chelsea — Kay found herself a single mother in 1978, pivoting to insurance sales and ultimately founding her own agency, Kay Granger Insurance. That same entrepreneurial tenacity propelled her into public life when she successfully organized her neighborhood against a proposed liquid waste disposal plant — an act of civic courage that led to her appointment to the Fort Worth Zoning Commission. She served on the Fort Worth City Council before making history in 1991 as Fort Worth's first female mayor. During her tenure, she championed bold crime-fighting reforms that cut city crime by nearly 50% and helped secure the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base — the nation's first joint reserve base. In 1996, she became the first Republican woman from Texas elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where she would serve for 28 years. In Congress, Granger became one of the most consequential Texans ever to serve on Capitol Hill. She was the first woman to chair the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, and in 2023 she became the first Republican woman to chair the full House Appropriations Committee. She fought fiercely for Fort Worth's defense industries, championed national security funding, and sponsored legislation awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to the Monuments Men of World War II. Kay Granger passed away on September 2, 2026, at the age of 83, surrounded by her family. She believed, with characteristic simplicity, that "ordinary people can do extraordinary things" — and she spent her life proving it.