Charlotte Houston Dallett, aged 94, of Taconic, Connecticut, and Brooklin, Maine, died on November 16, 2017. She was happy to be rejoining her husband of 51 years, Francis James (Jim) Dallett, and her granddaughter, Grace Hinman, who had died before her.
Charlotte was always upbeat, making the most of every day. Friendly to all, she gave unflagging support to her offspring, as well as her many nieces, nephews, godchildren, and friends. She was always up for fun with children or grandchildren, whether sailing, hiking, singing, theatre, movies, lectures, card games, tea parties, cheering at school sports, beagling, or scrambling along Maine’s rocky shores. Charlotte was out sailing and rowing in her 94th summer. She was devout, participating in many church-sponsored events, and she deeply appreciated the friendship she experienced at her church.
Charlotte was born May 24, 1923, on a farm in the city of Philadelphia, daughter of Henry Paul Brown and Edith Corlies Houston Brown, granddaughter of Samuel F. Houston, and great-granddaughter of Henry Howard Houston.
She graduated from Agnes Irwin’s School in Philadelphia and Vassar College, where she majored in Zoology and to which she was proud to be accompanied at her 70th reunion by her granddaughter Meg, also a Vassar grad.
Charlotte and Jim raised their family in Chestnut Hill, Bath, England and Villanova, Pennsylvania. She delighted in spending almost every summer of her life on the Maine coast, initially on Clapboard Island, Casco Bay and then in Brooklin. Charlotte acquired many thrifty habits during the Depression, which she tried to teach her children.
She worked as an occupational therapist with soldiers returning from WWII, and she was director of religious education at the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Chestnut Hill. She participated actively with a number of Philadelphia historical, environmental, and social organizations, including as Board member of Cathedral Village retirement community and Vice President and Secretary of Colonial Dames of America, Ch. II, and as a member of the Acorn Club for over six decades.
After retirement to Taconic in 1985, she continued her energetic advocacy for social change and environmental causes. She left her body to Yale School of Medicine for scientific research, hoping that she would inspire others to do the same.
Charlotte leaves her children, Matthew, Richard, Athenaide, and Estelina Dallett, daughters-in-law Mary Pritchard and Lloyd Dallett, sons-in-law John Hinman and Alan Cohen, and grandchildren Meg, Lydia, and Louisa Dallett, Lucia Dallett, and Charlotte and George Hinman. A memorial service will be held on January 27, 2018, 2:00 p.m. at Christ Trinity Church in Sheffield, Mass. Interment will be later, at Old St. David’s, Wayne, Pennsylvania. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Christ Trinity Church, P.O. Box 127, Sheffield, MA
