Naomi Key

Naomi Key, age 99 went to be with the Lord on Friday, October 4, 2024, at the Oak Pointe of Rolla. 

Naomi was born August 26, 1925, in Floresville, TX, a daughter to the late Hardy and Sallie (Smith) Mills. 

Naomi was raised in Floresville on the family farm with two sisters and nine brothers. She was a graduate of the nearby Sutherland Springs High School. 

In 1945, she was united in marriage to Billy Key and they moved to Warrensburg, MO, where their daughter Carolyn (Fore) was born. They later relocated to St. Louis where her husband had taken a coaching job and ultimately onto Rolla where Billy would serve as the men’s head basketball coach and later as the Athletic Director until his retirement in 1990. This was a great source of pride for Naomi. 

Naomi loved supporting Billy on the sidelines and through attending basketball games and other athletic events at the university.  

Naomi also enjoyed her own pursuits, including tennis tournaments at Oak Meadow County Club, ceramics painting as well as planting and growing flowers. 

She was a faithful member of the First Baptist Church of Rolla for 60 years. 

Naomi and Billy resided in Wellington Place until Billy’s passing in 2013, and she continued to reside there for many years enjoying the many friends she would regularly visit with. 

Naomi is survived by her daughter, Carolyn Fore and her husband Jack, a grandson Jeff (Shannon) Fore, granddaughter, Jill (Eric) Smith, great grandsons, Cameron (Ciara) Fore, Preston Fore, Mason Smith, Morgan Smith, Myles Smith and great granddaughters, Meghan Jones and Addison Fore, great-great grandsons, Cooper Fore and Carter Fore, many nieces, and nephews that reside in Texas and also extended family, Kate (Mike) Jones and sons Nick Jones, Aiden Jones, daughter Maddy (Chris) Hays. 

A Celebration of Life for Naomi will be held at the clubhouse at Wellington Place on Saturday, October 12, 2024, from 2:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. 

In lieu of flowers the family suggest memorial donations be made to the Billy Key Scholarship Fund c/o Missouri University of Science and Technology, 107 Cattleman Hall, 400 W. 10th Street, Rolla, Mo, 65409-0650 or to the Samaritans Purse-Hurricane Helene Relief, P.O. Box 3000, Boone, NC 28607. 

www.Samaritanspurse.org