Katharine "Kay" Muller Bullitt
February 22, 1925 - August 22, 2021
Obituary
To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based upon the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, and kindness…What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives… If we remember those times and places – and there are so many – where people behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. Howard Zinn
Civic leader and humanitarian, Katharine Muller Bullitt, age 96, died peacefully, at home, on Sunday August 22, 2021. Like Marian Wright Edelman, she believed that “service is the rent each of us pays for living” Kay dedicated herself to civic activism and private acts of kindness. Through her leadership in numerous organizations, she promoted: a thriving democracy, improved international relations, quality integrated public education, civil rights, historic preservation, the arts, better health-and-human services, and the environmental protection of the Pacific Northwest.
Among her many awards for that service are a Jefferson Award for Public Service; a First Citizen Award for Community Service, The United Nations Human Rights Award; Partners in Public Education’s Katharine Muller Bullitt Award (named for its founder), The Ralph Bunche Award; the Metropolitan Democratic Club’s Lifetime Achievement Award; and Senior Services 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award.
Kay once remarked, “When you bring people together around a purpose, good things happen.” The home, where she lived for 66 years, was a gathering place where ideas turned into practice, often into non-profit organizations whose aims were to recognize and remedy social problems here and abroad. Her Capitol Hill home and property will become a public park.
She hosted summer picnics and sing-a-longs, Mike Lowry’s Shrimp Feeds, concerts, dances, weddings, funerals, a grandson’s birth, a neighborhood dog park, and countless Sunday family brunches.
Her definition of family was broad, inclusive, and diverse. Kay’s stepson Fred Nemo observed that “Kay accepted the way things are and was diligent in dealing with the way things are. That was ground zero of being a mom, of course, but not a simple thing. It implies faith. It implies flexibility. It implies willingness to compromise and improvise”. She forgave easily. Her empathy was boundless.
Kay, the second of three daughters, was born on February 22, 1925, in Boston, Massachusetts to parents William Augustus Muller and Marion Churchill Muller.
She studied at Shady Hill (where she later taught), Concord Academy, and Radcliffe College, where she later served as a trustee.
Survivors include children Margaret and Dorothy Bullitt, stepchildren Ashley Bullitt, Fred Nemo (Sara Stout), Jill Bullitt, sister-in-law Harriet Bullitt (Alex Veronin) grandchildren: Benjamin Schmechel, Conrad (Lindey) Schmechel, Makaiya Bullitt-Rigsbee (Armando Padron-Cruz), Melita Bullitt (Ahmed Brox) Emma Schwartzman Rice (Chris), Walker Schwartzman, Stefan Schwartzman, great granddaughters Cyrena Graham and Mercedes Bullitt, great-great granddaughter RoLynn Crystal Lancaster, surrogate daughter, Margaret Russell (Dennis Van Zandt), surrogate grandson, Filippo Artoni, along with several devoted nephews and nieces, and many friends.
She was predeceased by her son Benjamin Bullitt, granddaughter Crystal Bullitt, great-grandson Keeshawn Bullitt, ex-husband Stimson Bullitt, sisters Margaret Baillie and Marion (Barney) Viste, parents William and Marion Muller, sister-in-law Patsy Bullitt Collins, and her beloved Golden Retriever, Zane.
For many years Kay was lovingly cared for in her home by Claudia Arguero, Lourdes (Lulu) Guimares, Nikki Daza, Alline Thurlow, Hannah Leonard, Patricia Burns and others.
In lieu of flowers, please contribute to one of the many non-profit organizations Kay supported including: blackpast.org, the Center for Wooden Boats, Peace Trees Vietnam, One World Now, N.W.I.R.P., and the ACLU.
A memorial service will be held at a later, safer time.
