The Woman Behind the Name
When I look at the life of Christy Kite, I see a story that moves with quiet force. She was not a celebrity in the loud, restless sense, yet she stood at the center of a remarkable golf family. Christy Lee Kite was born on May 15, 1951, in St. Louis, Missouri. Her early life began in one city, then shifted to another, like a golf ball carried by a sudden wind. Before her senior year of high school, she moved with her parents to Las Vegas, Nevada, where she finished school at Las Vegas High School.
That move mattered. It placed her near the course where the rest of her public story would begin to take shape. She later attended Arizona State University, played on the ASU golf team, and graduated with honors. That detail says a great deal about her. She was not only tied to golf through marriage. Golf was already in her bloodstream, in her discipline, in her daily rhythm. She knew the sport from the inside.
After college, Christy returned to Las Vegas and taught middle school math and science. I find that part of her life especially striking. Teaching is its own kind of craftsmanship. It asks for patience, clarity, and calm. In a classroom, as in a tournament, one wrong move can echo. Christy seems to have carried herself with the steadiness of someone who understood both worlds.
Meeting Tom Kite and Building a Life Together
Christy met Tom Kite Jr. in January 1975 while playing with her mother at Desert Inn Country Club. That meeting felt almost cinematic, but it was real, grounded, and everyday in the greatest way. Marriage followed a round of golf in October 1975. After that, her life and Tom’s profession were intertwined.
Christy never hid behind Tom’s career. Before the kids started school, she worked full-time on the PGA Tour with him. Life seems like a lengthy journey with changing scenery, airport lights, practice rounds, hotel rooms, and the desire to make a family feel at home every week. Christy worked. It was necessary yet unglamorous.
Tom’s career relied on her, as her obituary states. That level of golf can be stormy. Christy was a compass and anchor. She kept the family together while Tom traveled with the Tour. That labor is often overlooked yet shapes everything.
Christy Kite’s Children and Family Circle
Christy and Tom had three children, and each one belongs to the public record in a clear way.
Stephanie Kite Jones
Stephanie Kite Jones is Christy and Tom’s daughter. The family record identifies her as married to Kight Jones of Birmingham, Alabama. In the larger picture of Christy’s life, Stephanie represents continuity, the next branch on the family tree. Christy’s role as mother was not a passing detail. It was part of the structure of her life, woven into the years when the family moved with Tom’s professional schedule and then settled into a steadier rhythm.
Paul Christopher Kite
Paul Christopher Kite is Christy and Tom’s son, and public records place him in New York, New York. His presence in the family matters because it shows how the Kites spread out across different places while still remaining tied by name and memory. The family archive also includes correspondence connected to Paul, which suggests a household that remained connected not only by affection but also by the long thread of written family communication.
David Thomas Kite
David Thomas Kite is another son of Christy and Tom. The public record identifies him as married to Hunter Feemster Kite of Charleston, South Carolina. Like his sister and brother, David represents the family continuing forward into a new generation. His life appears in the record alongside his wife and child, which shows how Christy’s family line expanded over time.
Hunter Feemster Kite
Hunter Feemster Kite is David’s wife and Christy’s daughter in law. Her inclusion in the family record matters because it gives shape to the family as a whole. Christy’s life was not just about one marriage. It became a wider household, a network of names and relationships that grew over time.
Adaya Leigh Kite
Adaya Leigh Kite is the daughter of David and Hunter, which makes her Christy’s granddaughter. Every family story deepens when a new generation arrives. A granddaughter changes the emotional geometry of a family. She turns memory into inheritance. Christy did not live to see the future unfold in full, but her line continued.
Christy’s Parents
Christy’s parents remain unnamed in the public material, but they still matter. They moved with her from St. Louis to Las Vegas, and her mother was with her the day she met Tom. That small detail feels alive. It tells me that Christy came from a family that moved together and stayed close enough to be part of the decisive moments in her life.
A Life That Left a Quiet Mark
A long fight with cancer killed Christy Kite on January 23, 2015, in Austin, Texas. She was 63. Riverbend Church hosted her funeral four days later. She was still connected to community, family, and the golf world she had followed for decades in her final chapter.
I admire Christy’s legacy without big remarks or flashy accomplishments. It relies on constancy. She was an athlete, teacher, wife, mother, and grandma. She was surrounded by professional success, but not empty. It involved mobility, responsibility, and care.
Philanthropy honors her. Her name lives on through the Francis Ouimet Scholarship Fund’s Christy Kite Family Scholarship for young people in education and sports. It feels right. The life of Christy included teaching, golf, family, and service. A scholarship matches that blend.
I see her as a thread in a greater fabric. Though Tom Kite’s career was the visible pattern, Christy helped steady the loom.
FAQ
Who was Christy Kite?
Christy Kite was the wife of golfer Tom Kite, a former Arizona State University golfer, a teacher, a mother, and a family figure closely tied to the world of professional golf.
Where was Christy Kite born?
She was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on May 15, 1951.
What did Christy Kite do before marriage?
She played golf at Arizona State University, graduated with honors, and later taught middle school math and science in Las Vegas.
How did Christy Kite meet Tom Kite?
She met Tom Kite in January 1975 while golfing with her mother at Desert Inn Country Club.
When did Christy Kite and Tom Kite marry?
They married in October 1975.
How many children did Christy Kite have?
Christy Kite had three children, Stephanie Kite Jones, Paul Christopher Kite, and David Thomas Kite.
Did Christy Kite have grandchildren?
Yes. One publicly identified grandchild is Adaya Leigh Kite, the daughter of David Thomas Kite and Hunter Feemster Kite.
When did Christy Kite die?
She died on January 23, 2015, in Austin, Texas, after a long battle with cancer.
How is Christy Kite remembered?
She is remembered as a golfer, teacher, wife, mother, and a quiet force behind a major golf career, with her memory also honored through the Christy Kite Family Scholarship.
