A car crash on Card Sound Road just after midnight Saturday ended the life of Key West resident Janet Cates, whose journey through the past three decades took her from politics, to partying and prison to a mature and settled skin care professional known for her generosity and outgoing nature.

Cates, 56, died when her 2004 Mini Cooper skidded off the road, spun around and crashed into multiple trees and shrubs, according to Florida Highway Patrol reports. Her passenger, Lee Ann DePalma, was injured in the crash and taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where she was in critical condition Monday.

The two were on their way to a trade show for skin care professionals on the mainland.

Cates, who once ran for mayor of Key West but was no relation to Mayor Craig Cates, was a licensed aesthetician who worked at All About You day spa. An aesthetician works with skin and skin care products, massage, aromatherapy, facials, makeup application and hair removal.

"She picked it up and ran with it, and with her personality she was a perfect fit here because she knew absolutely everybody," said spa owner Nadine Toriello, who first hired Cates in 2002.

Cates went to work in a medical spa in 2007 and learned other skin care services, but returned to All About You just three weeks ago as a licensed aesthetician.

Toriello recalled her friend was an avid Elvis Presley fan.

"She had a life-size cutout of Elvis at her house, and the three men in her life were Elvis, her late husband, Michael, and Andre Agassi -- probably in that order," Toriello said.

She said Cates had an easy way with people and was able to put them at ease.

"She was still putting her treatment room together for facials and it was a major homecoming for all of us," said Toriello. "You didn't meet Janet without becoming her friend. Within five minutes, she knew all of your vital information and would remember it; you were not just a passing acquaintance. A kinder, more generous soul, you will not find. She truly gave everything she had."

Renee Spencer, a licensed massage therapist, remembers being homeless after the storm surge from Hurricane Wilma devastated her Big Coppitt Key home.

"I literally had nowhere else to go and she gave me a place to live," Spencer said. "As goofy and kooky as Janet could be, she had a heart of gold."

Toriello acknowledged Cates' party-girl persona in her younger days, "but in the 10 years I've known her, she was a real homebody," she said.

The party ended for Cates in 1985, when she was sentenced to 10 years in prison on federal racketeering and cocaine trafficking charges that stemmed from the now-infamous Bubba Bust. Also arrested and imprisoned in that scandal were former Deputy Police Chief Raymond Casamayor; two Key West police detectives; Cates' late husband, Michael, who was a local attorney; and seven others.

The Bubba Bust is not to be confused with Operation Conch, which took place in 1976 and resulted in the arrest of then-Fire Chief Joseph "Bum" Farto on marijuana and cocaine charges.

"That was an unfortunate time that she got pulled into," Toriello said. "Since I've known her, Janet was just a crazy, rock 'n' roll soul whose generosity knew no limits."

Family and friends are preparing a private memorial service. Donations may be made in her name to the Florida Keys SPCA.

mbolen@keysnews.com