Charlotte "Kitsy" Keyser Eaton, 93, passed away peacefully Sunday, Feb. 2, 2020, in Grosse Pointe. She was born Nov. 20, 1926, in Washington, D.C., to Maj. Gen. Ralph Stover Keyser, U.S. Marine Corps, of Thoroughfare, Va., and Charlotte Palmer Capers of Charleston, S.C. She was descended from original Huguenot settlers of South Carolina, the first colonial governors of the colony, three Episcopal bishops, one Methodist bishop and seven ministers and colonial deacons.
She grew up in Falls Church, Va., on a farm until her beloved father was called back to active service during World War II to be assistant commandant of the Marine Corps. The family moved back to Washington, D.C., in 1941, where Kitsy became a fashion model and enjoyed attending the many formal balls and events at the embassies. Because her father was a general, she could use the family car with unlimited gas despite wartime rationing. When she was 15, her father taught her how to drive in a cemetery because, he said, "You can't kill anybody here."
She attended Gunston Hall Girls School in Washington, D.C., until WWII caused it to close in 1943. She then graduated from Western High School in 1944. Kitsy met her first husband, Maj. Chauncey Brewster Chapman Jr., USMC, at one of the embassy parties that same year when he was home on furlough from the Pacific War Theater. They married in September 1945. Their first child, Chauncey Brewster Chapman III, was born in 1949, in Washington, D.C., in the middle of his father's finals at Georgetown Law School. Her first daughter, Rebecca "Becky" Palmer Chapman Booth, was born four years later in 1953, and Susan Keyser Chapman also was born in Washington, D.C., in 1958. Kitsy's three children were christened by the Very Rev. Francis B. Sayer Jr., "Uncle Frank," at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. Kitsy continued to enjoy parties, entertaining and making lifelong friends. She loved the sun and beach, and the young family enjoyed spending most every summer at either Bethany or Rehoboth Beach in Delaware.
Kitsy divorced Brewster late in 1959 to marry Berrien Clark Eaton Jr. of Grosse Pointe. Their daughter, Ann "Abbe" Berrien Eaton, was born in 1960. While living in Grosse Pointe, Kitsy made many more lifelong friends and generally was the belle of the ball at parties using her Southern charm and elegance on everyone. She was a member of Christ Church Grosse Pointe and served on its Altar Guild for two decades. She was on the Board of Trustees of the Neighborhood Club, the Northeast Guidance Center steering committee and Sigma Gamma Association. She also started and managed The University Camp, a summer play camp for young children in the community. She truly loved young people and took a great deal of delight being around them. To be surrounded by lively, smart, fun people and to do good along the way was of lifelong importance to her.
Kitsy and Berrien divorced in 1969. As a divorced mother of four children, Kitsy had to develop creative ways to support her family. Trained for nothing other than modeling and entertaining, she buckled down and took a job as a ward clerk at St. John Hospital in Detroit. She went on to discover better employment situations for her family and tried various things: Business director for Olsten Temporaries Inc., which gave her an ugly car to drive with a blue flowered vinyl roof that she hated, manager for Stroh's Ice Cream Parlor in Grosse Pointe and, her favorite job, working at the Pointe Peddler, a high-end kitchen store before the days of Williams Sonoma. She also founded and owned The Small Dance Class for middle-school children so they could learn how to socialize, learn manners, etiquette and how to do ballroom and popular dances. She loved the children and they loved her. Throughout her life she would be greeted with great enthusiasm by adults who had been her students.
In 1985, Kitsy moved to Ann Arbor to take a job as a house mother at the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority on Hill Street. Running a household of young women, overseeing all of the daily operations of the house was a job she relished. When invited, she also held etiquette classes for the fraternity house across the street; they even made a video of her lesson to refresh their skills before important meetings or interviews. She held this job for 15 years. After her retirement, she continued to get visits, phone calls and cards from her sorority daughters up until the time of her death.
Kitsy loved living in Ann Arbor and its youthful culture. She attended music concerts and theatric events and made countless new and good friends. She joined a travel club and enjoyed trips to Africa, China and England and went white river rafting and hiking with Abbe, as well as numerous trips to Minnesota to visit grandchildren. She was an active and busy volunteer in Ann Arbor. She volunteered at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens, Ann Arbor Farm and Garden, University of Michigan Museum of Art Friends Activity Committee and St. Andrews Episcopal Church Newcomers and Membership Committee. She was a greeter at the University of Michigan Turner Geriatric Center and one of the "Flower Ladies" for children in residence at C. S. Mott Children's Hospital doing horticultural therapy. She was a skilled hand-quilter and was made an honorary member of the Faculty Wives Quilting Group. Kitsy also loved to knit. She knitted countless specialized cotton bandages for leprosy care and many lap blankets for the VA Hospital. As an expression of her joy of children, she became a playground and recess monitor at Angell Elementary School, as well as a crossing guard for public schools through Ann Arbor. Kitsy was well-loved by her neighbors in the Lower Burns Park neighborhood. They always watched out for her and, in her later years, would cut her lawn, rake her leaves and shovel her snow.
Kitsy is survived by her children, Chauncey Brewster Chapman Jr. of Deerfield Beach, Fla., Rebecca Palmer Chapman Booth of Grosse Pointe Shores, Susan Keyser Chapman of Kalamazoo and Ann Berrien Eaton of Ann Arbor; grandchildren, John Lord Booth III, Charlotte-Louise Brewster Booth Shahid, Steven Brewster Malevich and Philip Stover Malevich; great-grandchildren, Kameron Robert Shahid Jr., Tristan Brewster Shahid and Palmer Chapman Shahid; stepson, Theodore Hambleton Eaton of Beverly, Mass., and many dear friends in both Grosse Pointe and Ann Arbor.
A short service will be held Saturday, May 23, at Christ Church Grosse Pointe, 61 Grosse Pointe Blvd., Grosse Pointe Farms, in the scatter garden section of the columbarium followed by a reception. All are welcome to come and celebrate Kitsy's life and share their favorite Kitsy stories. The family suggests expressions of sympathy be made to the charity of your own choosing.
She grew up in Falls Church, Va., on a farm until her beloved father was called back to active service during World War II to be assistant commandant of the Marine Corps. The family moved back to Washington, D.C., in 1941, where Kitsy became a fashion model and enjoyed attending the many formal balls and events at the embassies. Because her father was a general, she could use the family car with unlimited gas despite wartime rationing. When she was 15, her father taught her how to drive in a cemetery because, he said, "You can't kill anybody here."
She attended Gunston Hall Girls School in Washington, D.C., until WWII caused it to close in 1943. She then graduated from Western High School in 1944. Kitsy met her first husband, Maj. Chauncey Brewster Chapman Jr., USMC, at one of the embassy parties that same year when he was home on furlough from the Pacific War Theater. They married in September 1945. Their first child, Chauncey Brewster Chapman III, was born in 1949, in Washington, D.C., in the middle of his father's finals at Georgetown Law School. Her first daughter, Rebecca "Becky" Palmer Chapman Booth, was born four years later in 1953, and Susan Keyser Chapman also was born in Washington, D.C., in 1958. Kitsy's three children were christened by the Very Rev. Francis B. Sayer Jr., "Uncle Frank," at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. Kitsy continued to enjoy parties, entertaining and making lifelong friends. She loved the sun and beach, and the young family enjoyed spending most every summer at either Bethany or Rehoboth Beach in Delaware.
Kitsy divorced Brewster late in 1959 to marry Berrien Clark Eaton Jr. of Grosse Pointe. Their daughter, Ann "Abbe" Berrien Eaton, was born in 1960. While living in Grosse Pointe, Kitsy made many more lifelong friends and generally was the belle of the ball at parties using her Southern charm and elegance on everyone. She was a member of Christ Church Grosse Pointe and served on its Altar Guild for two decades. She was on the Board of Trustees of the Neighborhood Club, the Northeast Guidance Center steering committee and Sigma Gamma Association. She also started and managed The University Camp, a summer play camp for young children in the community. She truly loved young people and took a great deal of delight being around them. To be surrounded by lively, smart, fun people and to do good along the way was of lifelong importance to her.
Kitsy and Berrien divorced in 1969. As a divorced mother of four children, Kitsy had to develop creative ways to support her family. Trained for nothing other than modeling and entertaining, she buckled down and took a job as a ward clerk at St. John Hospital in Detroit. She went on to discover better employment situations for her family and tried various things: Business director for Olsten Temporaries Inc., which gave her an ugly car to drive with a blue flowered vinyl roof that she hated, manager for Stroh's Ice Cream Parlor in Grosse Pointe and, her favorite job, working at the Pointe Peddler, a high-end kitchen store before the days of Williams Sonoma. She also founded and owned The Small Dance Class for middle-school children so they could learn how to socialize, learn manners, etiquette and how to do ballroom and popular dances. She loved the children and they loved her. Throughout her life she would be greeted with great enthusiasm by adults who had been her students.
In 1985, Kitsy moved to Ann Arbor to take a job as a house mother at the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority on Hill Street. Running a household of young women, overseeing all of the daily operations of the house was a job she relished. When invited, she also held etiquette classes for the fraternity house across the street; they even made a video of her lesson to refresh their skills before important meetings or interviews. She held this job for 15 years. After her retirement, she continued to get visits, phone calls and cards from her sorority daughters up until the time of her death.
Kitsy loved living in Ann Arbor and its youthful culture. She attended music concerts and theatric events and made countless new and good friends. She joined a travel club and enjoyed trips to Africa, China and England and went white river rafting and hiking with Abbe, as well as numerous trips to Minnesota to visit grandchildren. She was an active and busy volunteer in Ann Arbor. She volunteered at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens, Ann Arbor Farm and Garden, University of Michigan Museum of Art Friends Activity Committee and St. Andrews Episcopal Church Newcomers and Membership Committee. She was a greeter at the University of Michigan Turner Geriatric Center and one of the "Flower Ladies" for children in residence at C. S. Mott Children's Hospital doing horticultural therapy. She was a skilled hand-quilter and was made an honorary member of the Faculty Wives Quilting Group. Kitsy also loved to knit. She knitted countless specialized cotton bandages for leprosy care and many lap blankets for the VA Hospital. As an expression of her joy of children, she became a playground and recess monitor at Angell Elementary School, as well as a crossing guard for public schools through Ann Arbor. Kitsy was well-loved by her neighbors in the Lower Burns Park neighborhood. They always watched out for her and, in her later years, would cut her lawn, rake her leaves and shovel her snow.
Kitsy is survived by her children, Chauncey Brewster Chapman Jr. of Deerfield Beach, Fla., Rebecca Palmer Chapman Booth of Grosse Pointe Shores, Susan Keyser Chapman of Kalamazoo and Ann Berrien Eaton of Ann Arbor; grandchildren, John Lord Booth III, Charlotte-Louise Brewster Booth Shahid, Steven Brewster Malevich and Philip Stover Malevich; great-grandchildren, Kameron Robert Shahid Jr., Tristan Brewster Shahid and Palmer Chapman Shahid; stepson, Theodore Hambleton Eaton of Beverly, Mass., and many dear friends in both Grosse Pointe and Ann Arbor.
A short service will be held Saturday, May 23, at Christ Church Grosse Pointe, 61 Grosse Pointe Blvd., Grosse Pointe Farms, in the scatter garden section of the columbarium followed by a reception. All are welcome to come and celebrate Kitsy's life and share their favorite Kitsy stories. The family suggests expressions of sympathy be made to the charity of your own choosing.
Charlotte "Kitsy" Keyser Eaton, 93, passed away peacefully Sunday, Feb. 2, 2020, in Grosse Pointe. She was born Nov. 20, 1926, in Washington, D.C., to Maj. Gen. Ralph Stover Keyser, U.S. Marine Corps, of Thoroughfare, Va., and Charlotte Palmer Capers of Charleston, S.C. She was descended from original Huguenot settlers of South Carolina, the first colonial governors of the colony, three Episcopal bishops, one Methodist bishop and seven ministers and colonial deacons.
She grew up in Falls Church, Va., on a farm until her beloved father was called back to active service during World War II to be assistant commandant of the Marine Corps. The family moved back to Washington, D.C., in 1941, where Kitsy became a fashion model and enjoyed attending the many formal balls and events at the embassies. Because her father was a general, she could use the family car with unlimited gas despite wartime rationing. When she was 15, her father taught her how to drive in a cemetery because, he said, "You can't kill anybody here."
She attended Gunston Hall Girls School in Washington, D.C., until WWII caused it to close in 1943. She then graduated from Western High School in 1944. Kitsy met her first husband, Maj. Chauncey Brewster Chapman Jr., USMC, at one of the embassy parties that same year when he was home on furlough from the Pacific War Theater. They married in September 1945. Their first child, Chauncey Brewster Chapman III, was born in 1949, in Washington, D.C., in the middle of his father's finals at Georgetown Law School. Her first daughter, Rebecca "Becky" Palmer Chapman Booth, was born four years later in 1953, and Susan Keyser Chapman also was born in Washington, D.C., in 1958. Kitsy's three children were christened by the Very Rev. Francis B. Sayer Jr., "Uncle Frank," at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. Kitsy continued to enjoy parties, entertaining and making lifelong friends. She loved the sun and beach, and the young family enjoyed spending most every summer at either Bethany or Rehoboth Beach in Delaware.
Kitsy divorced Brewster late in 1959 to marry Berrien Clark Eaton Jr. of Grosse Pointe. Their daughter, Ann "Abbe" Berrien Eaton, was born in 1960. While living in Grosse Pointe, Kitsy made many more lifelong friends and generally was the belle of the ball at parties using her Southern charm and elegance on everyone. She was a member of Christ Church Grosse Pointe and served on its Altar Guild for two decades. She was on the Board of Trustees of the Neighborhood Club, the Northeast Guidance Center steering committee and Sigma Gamma Association. She also started and managed The University Camp, a summer play camp for young children in the community. She truly loved young people and took a great deal of delight being around them. To be surrounded by lively, smart, fun people and to do good along the way was of lifelong importance to her.
Kitsy and Berrien divorced in 1969. As a divorced mother of four children, Kitsy had to develop creative ways to support her family. Trained for nothing other than modeling and entertaining, she buckled down and took a job as a ward clerk at St. John Hospital in Detroit. She went on to discover better employment situations for her family and tried various things: Business director for Olsten Temporaries Inc., which gave her an ugly car to drive with a blue flowered vinyl roof that she hated, manager for Stroh's Ice Cream Parlor in Grosse Pointe and, her favorite job, working at the Pointe Peddler, a high-end kitchen store before the days of Williams Sonoma. She also founded and owned The Small Dance Class for middle-school children so they could learn how to socialize, learn manners, etiquette and how to do ballroom and popular dances. She loved the children and they loved her. Throughout her life she would be greeted with great enthusiasm by adults who had been her students.
In 1985, Kitsy moved to Ann Arbor to take a job as a house mother at the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority on Hill Street. Running a household of young women, overseeing all of the daily operations of the house was a job she relished. When invited, she also held etiquette classes for the fraternity house across the street; they even made a video of her lesson to refresh their skills before important meetings or interviews. She held this job for 15 years. After her retirement, she continued to get visits, phone calls and cards from her sorority daughters up until the time of her death.
Kitsy loved living in Ann Arbor and its youthful culture. She attended music concerts and theatric events and made countless new and good friends. She joined a travel club and enjoyed trips to Africa, China and England and went white river rafting and hiking with Abbe, as well as numerous trips to Minnesota to visit grandchildren. She was an active and busy volunteer in Ann Arbor. She volunteered at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens, Ann Arbor Farm and Garden, University of Michigan Museum of Art Friends Activity Committee and St. Andrews Episcopal Church Newcomers and Membership Committee. She was a greeter at the University of Michigan Turner Geriatric Center and one of the "Flower Ladies" for children in residence at C. S. Mott Children's Hospital doing horticultural therapy. She was a skilled hand-quilter and was made an honorary member of the Faculty Wives Quilting Group. Kitsy also loved to knit. She knitted countless specialized cotton bandages for leprosy care and many lap blankets for the VA Hospital. As an expression of her joy of children, she became a playground and recess monitor at Angell Elementary School, as well as a crossing guard for public schools through Ann Arbor. Kitsy was well-loved by her neighbors in the Lower Burns Park neighborhood. They always watched out for her and, in her later years, would cut her lawn, rake her leaves and shovel her snow.
Kitsy is survived by her children, Chauncey Brewster Chapman Jr. of Deerfield Beach, Fla., Rebecca Palmer Chapman Booth of Grosse Pointe Shores, Susan Keyser Chapman of Kalamazoo and Ann Berrien Eaton of Ann Arbor; grandchildren, John Lord Booth III, Charlotte-Louise Brewster Booth Shahid, Steven Brewster Malevich and Philip Stover Malevich; great-grandchildren, Kameron Robert Shahid Jr., Tristan Brewster Shahid and Palmer Chapman Shahid; stepson, Theodore Hambleton Eaton of Beverly, Mass., and many dear friends in both Grosse Pointe and Ann Arbor.
A short service will be held Saturday, May 23, at Christ Church Grosse Pointe, 61 Grosse Pointe Blvd., Grosse Pointe Farms, in the scatter garden section of the columbarium followed by a reception. All are welcome to come and celebrate Kitsy's life and share their favorite Kitsy stories. The family suggests expressions of sympathy be made to the charity of your own choosing.
She grew up in Falls Church, Va., on a farm until her beloved father was called back to active service during World War II to be assistant commandant of the Marine Corps. The family moved back to Washington, D.C., in 1941, where Kitsy became a fashion model and enjoyed attending the many formal balls and events at the embassies. Because her father was a general, she could use the family car with unlimited gas despite wartime rationing. When she was 15, her father taught her how to drive in a cemetery because, he said, "You can't kill anybody here."
She attended Gunston Hall Girls School in Washington, D.C., until WWII caused it to close in 1943. She then graduated from Western High School in 1944. Kitsy met her first husband, Maj. Chauncey Brewster Chapman Jr., USMC, at one of the embassy parties that same year when he was home on furlough from the Pacific War Theater. They married in September 1945. Their first child, Chauncey Brewster Chapman III, was born in 1949, in Washington, D.C., in the middle of his father's finals at Georgetown Law School. Her first daughter, Rebecca "Becky" Palmer Chapman Booth, was born four years later in 1953, and Susan Keyser Chapman also was born in Washington, D.C., in 1958. Kitsy's three children were christened by the Very Rev. Francis B. Sayer Jr., "Uncle Frank," at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. Kitsy continued to enjoy parties, entertaining and making lifelong friends. She loved the sun and beach, and the young family enjoyed spending most every summer at either Bethany or Rehoboth Beach in Delaware.
Kitsy divorced Brewster late in 1959 to marry Berrien Clark Eaton Jr. of Grosse Pointe. Their daughter, Ann "Abbe" Berrien Eaton, was born in 1960. While living in Grosse Pointe, Kitsy made many more lifelong friends and generally was the belle of the ball at parties using her Southern charm and elegance on everyone. She was a member of Christ Church Grosse Pointe and served on its Altar Guild for two decades. She was on the Board of Trustees of the Neighborhood Club, the Northeast Guidance Center steering committee and Sigma Gamma Association. She also started and managed The University Camp, a summer play camp for young children in the community. She truly loved young people and took a great deal of delight being around them. To be surrounded by lively, smart, fun people and to do good along the way was of lifelong importance to her.
Kitsy and Berrien divorced in 1969. As a divorced mother of four children, Kitsy had to develop creative ways to support her family. Trained for nothing other than modeling and entertaining, she buckled down and took a job as a ward clerk at St. John Hospital in Detroit. She went on to discover better employment situations for her family and tried various things: Business director for Olsten Temporaries Inc., which gave her an ugly car to drive with a blue flowered vinyl roof that she hated, manager for Stroh's Ice Cream Parlor in Grosse Pointe and, her favorite job, working at the Pointe Peddler, a high-end kitchen store before the days of Williams Sonoma. She also founded and owned The Small Dance Class for middle-school children so they could learn how to socialize, learn manners, etiquette and how to do ballroom and popular dances. She loved the children and they loved her. Throughout her life she would be greeted with great enthusiasm by adults who had been her students.
In 1985, Kitsy moved to Ann Arbor to take a job as a house mother at the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority on Hill Street. Running a household of young women, overseeing all of the daily operations of the house was a job she relished. When invited, she also held etiquette classes for the fraternity house across the street; they even made a video of her lesson to refresh their skills before important meetings or interviews. She held this job for 15 years. After her retirement, she continued to get visits, phone calls and cards from her sorority daughters up until the time of her death.
Kitsy loved living in Ann Arbor and its youthful culture. She attended music concerts and theatric events and made countless new and good friends. She joined a travel club and enjoyed trips to Africa, China and England and went white river rafting and hiking with Abbe, as well as numerous trips to Minnesota to visit grandchildren. She was an active and busy volunteer in Ann Arbor. She volunteered at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens, Ann Arbor Farm and Garden, University of Michigan Museum of Art Friends Activity Committee and St. Andrews Episcopal Church Newcomers and Membership Committee. She was a greeter at the University of Michigan Turner Geriatric Center and one of the "Flower Ladies" for children in residence at C. S. Mott Children's Hospital doing horticultural therapy. She was a skilled hand-quilter and was made an honorary member of the Faculty Wives Quilting Group. Kitsy also loved to knit. She knitted countless specialized cotton bandages for leprosy care and many lap blankets for the VA Hospital. As an expression of her joy of children, she became a playground and recess monitor at Angell Elementary School, as well as a crossing guard for public schools through Ann Arbor. Kitsy was well-loved by her neighbors in the Lower Burns Park neighborhood. They always watched out for her and, in her later years, would cut her lawn, rake her leaves and shovel her snow.
Kitsy is survived by her children, Chauncey Brewster Chapman Jr. of Deerfield Beach, Fla., Rebecca Palmer Chapman Booth of Grosse Pointe Shores, Susan Keyser Chapman of Kalamazoo and Ann Berrien Eaton of Ann Arbor; grandchildren, John Lord Booth III, Charlotte-Louise Brewster Booth Shahid, Steven Brewster Malevich and Philip Stover Malevich; great-grandchildren, Kameron Robert Shahid Jr., Tristan Brewster Shahid and Palmer Chapman Shahid; stepson, Theodore Hambleton Eaton of Beverly, Mass., and many dear friends in both Grosse Pointe and Ann Arbor.
A short service will be held Saturday, May 23, at Christ Church Grosse Pointe, 61 Grosse Pointe Blvd., Grosse Pointe Farms, in the scatter garden section of the columbarium followed by a reception. All are welcome to come and celebrate Kitsy's life and share their favorite Kitsy stories. The family suggests expressions of sympathy be made to the charity of your own choosing.
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Advertisement
