Please note that as a coronavirus prevention measure Katherine Stanton’s memorial service will be moved to a later date. 

Katharine “Kitty” Hill Stanton, 91, died of natural causes on Feb. 11. Born June 22, 1928 to Lucius and Helen Hill, she grew up in Brookline.

Kitty thrived in her youth as a scholar/athlete at the Windsor School, Miss Porters School, and Vassar College. Summers, she blasted tennis balls at the Longwood Cricket Club in Brookline. Her strong legs and tenacity carried her to #3 in New England in the 15 Under Division. In the same year, she triumphed in the Western 18 & Under Girls Singles Championship, a sanctioned national event. Winters, she carved and spun her way through many New England junior figure skating championships, representing the Boston Skating Club.

As a young mother of three, she represented New England in the US National Doubles several times, battling the best players in the world. She also rose to the #5 ranking in New England Women’s Singles, and passed her love of the game to her three children. Both of her sons became career teaching professionals.

She married John K. Stanton in 1950 and they settled in Marion, where she was elected to the Planning Board, and volunteered on the Republican Committee and the NE Junior Tennis Ranking Committee. She also served as president of the Sippican Tennis Club and the PTA, headed the local Girl Scouts, and sat on the board of the NE Home for Little Wanderers orphanage, where she directed the annual Christmas toy drive.

In the 1980s, Kitty moved to Brookline to work at The Country Club tennis shop and later to Lexington, where she volunteered at the Lahey Clinic. She was a proud member of Alcoholics Anonymous and mentored several younger women as their sponsor. She spent her final days battling dementia with extraordinary grace and humor at Care One in Wilmington.

Kitty was preceded in death by her granddaughter, Kristy LeMond, and will be remembered with love by her brother Lucius Hill; her children, Seabury Stanton (Val), Jack Stanton (Pam), and Kathy LeMond (Barry); her three grandchildren, Leanna Stanton, Luke Stanton (Mandie) and Kevin LeMond and two great grandsons, Oliver Stanton and Jack Jones.

She had a credo that she tried to instill in her children: “Always consider the pain behind the poor behavior of others.”

A memorial service will be held at St. Gabriel’s Church in Marion, June 27 at noon. In lieu of flowers, contributions in her memory can be donated to a charity of one’s choice.