Kathleen "Kay" Halloran

Kathleen “Kay” Brigid Halloran, 89, a former mayor of Cedar Rapids and a former state lawmaker, died Sunday, June 14, 2026, at HallMar Village in Marion, Iowa. A celebration of her life will be held this fall.

Kay was born in Estherville, Iowa, on Jan. 19, 1937, to Edward and Meryl Halloran. The family moved to Cedar Rapids, where Kay attended elementary school and Franklin High School. She graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in English and political science in 1959. She married Allen R. Chapman in 1961, and, when their two sons were young, she began classes at the University of Iowa College of Law. She graduated with distinction in 1974, when she began practicing law in Cedar Rapids.

She earned her pilot’s license in 1979, flying to and from Des Moines and other cities for work and pleasure over the decades. Kay was a member of the All Saints Catholic Church in Cedar Rapids, the Linn County and Iowa Bar Associations and the Association of Trial Lawyers of Iowa. She served on the boards of Tanager Place, the YWCA, Children’s Home of Cedar Rapids and Mid America Housing Partnership. Over the years, Kay also was a member of the League of Women Voters, Iowa Women’s Political Caucus, the American Association of University Women, Common Cause, the Cedar Rapids Board of Adjustment, and Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition. Kay donated her papers from her decades of public service to the University of Iowa Archives.

Kay, a 1974 graduate of the University of Iowa College of Law, was the first woman to work in a private law practice in Cedar Rapids. A Democrat, Kay was elected to the Iowa House of Representatives seven times, serving from 1983 through 1993 and from 1997 to 2000, where she championed women’s issues and sought to help those who needed a hand up. She resigned at the end of her last term when Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack appointed her to the state Department of Commerce.

After she retired, Kay was elected mayor of Cedar Rapids in November 2005, the first mayor in the city’s new council-manager form of government, serving from 2006-2010. “She was tough, a principled public servant,” Cedar Rapids lawyer Brian Fagan, who served with Halloran on the city council, said of his mentor. “She knew what she believed in and why she believed it. In my view, she did the right things for the right reasons. She belonged in the arena of public service. She was built for it.”

Kay was the city’s mayor during the disastrous flood of June 2008, working long hours, often behind the scenes, to deal with recovery paperwork and to comfort those who’d lost their homes and business in the flood. When her friends suggested she’d “never signed on for a flood,” she replied, “When you put your name on a ballot, you sign on for whatever shows up.” Cedar Rapids City Council member Dale Todd described Kay as “tough, dedicated and deeply committed to the people and causes she cared about. Cedar Rapids is better because she chose to serve.”

Kay was an early and ardent supporter and fan of the University of Iowa’s women’s basketball team. She enjoyed a good laugh and entertaining friends and politicians in her home and flying to New York City with friends to see plays and musicals on Broadway. She traveled extensively, ski trips, bicycle island adventures, and a family trip to Ireland, many times accompanied by her granddaughters, son, and friends.

Kay is survived by her sons, Christopher Chapman and Stuart (Terri) Chapman; two granddaughters, Shannon (Douglas) Johnston and Carly (David) Jarvinen; two great-grandsons, Logan Johnston and Rory Johnston; and cousin, Phil Johnson.

She was preceded in death by her parents; brother, Michael Halloran; and sister, Patricia Johnson.

Kay donated her body to the University of Iowa Deeded Body Program. Her cremains will be inurned at Mount Calvary Cemetery in Cedar Rapids at a later date.