"At the still point, there the dance is." T.S. Elliot
In Memory
Betsy Fleming Kittle, age 76, of Chicago, IL died peacefully on June 13, 2026 surrounded by her children Julia Kittle Hynes and David Kittle.
Born in Kansas City, MO, Betsy grew up in Wilmington, DE to parents Dr. E. McClung Fleming (Mac) and Patricia Crew Fleming (Pat). She graduated from The Tatnall School where she played varsity field hockey and lacrosse and Fleming College in Lugano, Switzerland. She later earned a bachelor's degree in journalism at Columbia College Chicago and a Masters in Liberal Arts, with distinction from DePaul University.
She was a market reporter for the Chicago Board of Trade, a licensed CNA, and later was an ESL teacher for adult students at Truman College. But she was always a dedicated scholar. She was a longtime volunteer at Chicago’s Glessner House and was an enthusiastic guide to Graceland Cemetery. She is the author of an unfinished history of whaling based on the journals of a great-great uncle, who was a whaler out of New Bedford, MA. As the family archivist, she mined the correspondence of our paternal grandparents, who were Christian missionaries to India at the turn of the twentieth century. Her essays included themes of Victorian customs, women’s rights and life abroad. She donated her collections to the Newberry Library. Her curiosity knew no horizons; her determination to dive deep was fierce.
Betsy led an active and joyous life in Chicago and made deeply authentic friendships wherever she went. She was free spirited, eccentric, curious, creative, fun, and kind. She was a loving mother to Julia Kittle Hynes (John Hynes) and David Kittle (Erica Gagne Kittle) and was the most incredible grandma to her five grandchildren (Maura and Keira Hynes, and Wyatt, Evelyn, and Riley Kittle).
She loved to watch the moon rise over Montrose Harbor, "Grandma Friday's" with Maura, Keira, and Grandma Sara, taking the twins (Riley and Evelyn) for playdates at the library, collecting sticks from Winnemac Park with Wyatt, the Hamilton Street block party, being a groupie to her favorite band Conjunto in festivals around town, summers in Cape May, NJ, fiesta and the greasy-pole in Gloucester, MA, and family dinner's at the Athenian Room. She had the extrovert’s gift of immediately finding a connection with everyone she met.
In addition to her Chicago family, Betsy is survived by her brother Dan Fleming of Nashville, TN and Mic Fleming of Agios Nikolaos, Greece.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations be made to S.M.A.R.T. Recovery https://smartrecovery.org
Gallery
Memory wall
Betsy and I met in1981 at the Chicago Architecture Foundation’s Docent Training. Betsy was training to become a Docent, and, as the new Curator of the Glessner House, I needed to learn along with the new docents. To encourage the group to meet one another, you interviewed the person next to you. Then we introduced them to the rest of the class. Betsy and I did just that. She then started working in the coach house of the Glessner House where tours began next to the museum shop. She worked with Anne Hill Bird whose desk was also in the coach house, and with Jane Lucas who ran the Tour Bookstore for the Foundation’s Chicago Loop ArchiCenter. From my office in the Glessner attic I could scoot down the back stairs to chat with Betsy and Anne about tours or to see Betsy’s baby David who had come to work with her in a cradle. Soon Betsy met my husband Kevin as well.
Betsy also appreciated jazz. Kevin and I usually sat with her, along with another friend, Virginia Kerr, at the annual Chicago Jazz Fest held around Labor Day. As Betsy and Virginia both became Grandmas, it was a pleasure to watch them compare grand kid photos. We will miss her at these evenings from now on. She introduced us to her friend James Sanders and his group Conjunto, and we shared in her joy for the work of Eddie Palmieri. For several years we would go with her to the Latin Jazz Festival in the Humboldt Park Boathouse. After Betsy’s death this summer, Kevin and I went to a night of Chicago’s Latin Jazz Fest to think of her memory there, with the music she so enjoyed.
We also shared an appreciation for the picturesque landscape and monuments of Graceland Cemetery. When Betsy began teaching at Truman College, she wanted to make her classes tangible for students whose first language was not English. She enlisted Kevin to help her interpret the cemetery in its great diversity. As they discovered tombstones of people whose names related to their own backgrounds, they could see and touch and learn that Chicago has always provided opportunities for people from all over the world.
Elaine & Kevin Harrington
Losing Betsy has left such an abyss in this crazy world; she was a one-of-a-kind human being whose inexplicable laugh I still feel every day. Dear Betsy, I will find you again as I search for that abyss where you now are; I will join you, and we will laugh together once again. I wish you could tell me what you’re reading, or even whether you’re reading, so we could have our deep quiet chats. In the meantime, I know you are in the countless winds that blow through the trees, in the sunrises you loved so utterly, in the soft starlight each and every night, and in the soothing autumn rain. Your spirit will never cease.
Dear Julia and David, you and your families are in my heart and prayers. May God bless you and help you through this difficult time, Love, Richard
Family tree
Favorites
Service
For those that would like to join, we plan to walk to Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary immediately after to watch the full moon rise (est. 6:40pm).
200 W Montrose Harbor Dr
Chicago, IL 60640
https://www.thedockatmontrosebeach.com/music
4:00pm - 6:00pm
Donate
www.smartrecovery.org
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