Obituary

FLORENCE HARDY FITZHUGH

Florence Hardy Fitzhugh, 92, resident of Kendal at Hanover, died there on March 14, 2009. She was born in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, on April 12, 1916, the daughter of Chester Sargent Hardy and Priscilla Covell Hardy and had three younger siblings: Henry, Priscilla, and James (formerly of Wilder and Hartland, Vermont).

Florrie attended the one-room Crocker School in Fitchburg and was taught by her aunt through eighth grade. She went on to Holton Arms School in Washington, DC, where she was the only student from New England. Florrie thrived in the cosmopolitan atmosphere of the nation's capital and enjoyed the independence the school encouraged. At Vassar College she seized academic challenges and participated in college life with great enthusiasm. She majored in Religion and minored in Art History, graduating in 1937. At both Holton and Vassar she was a student leader and formed many life-long friendships.

After Vassar, Florrie lived and worked in New York City. She married William Wyvill Fitzhugh, Jr. in December 1941, a week after Pearl Harbor. They had known each other since childhood in Chatham, Massachusetts, where both families spent summers. Florrie and Wyvill had two wartime children and two born after the war. They lived in Alexandria, Virginia, and Garden City, Long Island before moving to Chappaqua, New York. Retirement brought them to Norwich, Vermont, in 1982 and then to Kendal at Hanover. The summertime home, "Starboard Light," they maintained in Chatham throughout their lives became the favorite gathering place for their extended family.

Florrie spent her life engaged in volunteer work in her various communities and supported many worthy organizations. Among them were the Garden City Community Club, United Nations Women's Committee, Vassar College Alumnae Council, the Westchester Vassar Club, the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens at Kitchewan, St. Mary's in the Field in Valhalla, New York, and the Norwich Women's Club. She spearheaded the Norwich Bicentennial Committee soon after moving to Norwich and quickly got to know the town's history through interviews with its oldest residents. Throughout her life Florrie was an active supporter of Holton Arms and Vassar, attending and helping to plan nearly every reunion. Married to a Dartmouth '35 graduate, she also organized and enjoyed many Hanover reunions.

Florrie's abiding interests were her family and friends. Her sense of humor and willingness to be silly could be counted on to enliven a gathering. She enjoyed decorating and maintaining her homes, entertaining, gardening, classical music, art, movies, reading and when younger, dancing the Charleston. A prolific letter writer, she packed more onto a page or card than seemed humanly possible and embellished her husband's eagerly anticipated Christmas poems with lengthy messages. Florrie's inquiring mind led her to enroll in many local ILEAD courses. While at Kendal she established a gallery of rotating art exhibitions, featuring local artists.

Florrie is survived by her sister Priscilla Andrews of Groton, Massachusetts; four children, William W. Fitzhugh IV of Washington, DC, Priscilla S. Fitzhugh of Seattle, Washington, John H. Fitzhugh of Berlin, Vermont, and Portia L. Fitzhugh of Orford, New Hampshire; seven grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews.

A memorial service will be held at Kendal at Hanover on Saturday, March 21 at 11:00 AM. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Vassar College, the Kendal Cadbury Fund, or the charity of one's choice.