Katharine Seward Bryant

Katharine Seward Bryant, of Cohasset, Massachusetts, passed away peacefully in her own home on Wednesday, January 6, with her loyal husband John, originally of Philadelphia, holding her hand, and her son, Gardner, daughter, Susan, and faithful caregiver, Kathleen Earner, nearby.  Her brother, Donald W. Gardner, of Marblehead, and other family members and friends had visited in the prior two days. Despite the dementia of her final years, she maintained her serene and friendly countenance.

Born in Philadelphia, MA in 1931, to Donald W. and Katharine Seward Gardner, Kit was introduced to sailing at a young age in Marblehead and Nantucket.  She graduated from Marblehead High School, after stints at Nantucket Public Schools, and PS101 in Forest Hills Gardens, NY,  during World War II.  She majored in Art History at Connecticut College for Women, where she started a sailing club, and earned an OTR from Boston School of Occupational Therapy at Tufts. 

As a child, Kit was successfully treated with surgery and radiation for a pilocytic astrocytoma brain tumor by Dr. Franc Ingraham and his staff at Children's Hospital in 1939, and again in 1943, and yet continued on to sail and ski despite compromised balance.  As an Occupational Therapist, she was able to help a number of less-fortunate children, veterans and elders, and later helped researcher Dr. Dennis Selkoe and the Alzheimer's Association after her mother was diagnosed with pre-senile dementia.

It was through sailing that Kit met her husband, John in 1956. They married, moved to Cohasset and used their 22' open centerboard sloop to cruise from Gloucester to Nantucket towing their children's diapers. With two English Setters and two children, a 28' Pearson Triton, named DAWN TREADER, served many vacations.  When Kit and John retired in 1998, they moved aboard s/v KITTIWAKE, a Pearson 35' and cruised from Cohasset to the Bahamas for ten years.

In Cohasset, Kit ran creative playgroups for local children, advocated for her own and other children,  and participated in a variety of workshops and trips through the South Shore Art Center.  She enjoyed the Cohasset Discussion Club, Cohasset Library volunteering, watching kids at the yacht club and establishing the Cohasset Lightkeepers' Cottage.  She was a member of the Boston Port and Seaman's Aid Society at the Mariner's House, the Ladies' Committee of Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, and led art classes in the Bahamas.

Her watercolors reflect her serene nature and her enthusiastic appreciation for the beauty of the outdoors, and will be on display at the memorial service which will be held on Saturday, January 23, 2016, at 1:00 pm at St. Stephens church in Cohasset.  Attendees are encouraged to forgo black for wearing joyful colors that so entranced Kit throughout her life.

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