Beloved Hill portrait painter for 80 years dies at 104

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I have met many extraordinary individuals in the Chestnut Hill area over the last 40 years, but Emilie (Kayo) Rivinus Brégy, who died Dec. 31 of age-related ailments at her 22-year home in Cathedral Village in upper Roxborough at the age of 104, is definitely among the most memorable.

When I met her during the Christmas holiday, 2022, in the Chestnut Hill home of Jack McMeekin, I could not believe it when she said she was 102. I was told by a friend that she was the oldest active portrait painter in the U.S., having done it for 80 years. Several of her portraits were hanging on the walls in the McMeekin household, and they were stunning.

“I had stopped doing portraits for a while,” Brégy said at the time in a strong, clear voice, “but then people at Cathedral Village would ask me to paint them, and I could not say no, so I am still doing them. That's OK because I actually feel uncomfortable when I am not painting.”

Brégy, who walked without a cane or walker or other assistance but with a permanent smile on her face, was an inspiration to all who met her. Charlotte Betancourt, a Chestnut Hill resident for almost 50 years and long-time friend, said, “You should see this lady swing a golf club. She played tennis into her 70s and then golf for 25 years into her 90s. Kayo used to walk down Germantown Avenue in Chestnut Hill and knew everybody. But not now.”

Brégy was born Aug. 16, 1920, to Marion and Edward Rivinus and spent her childhood in Chestnut Hill. As a child, she went to Beaver Summer Camp in Maine, where she picked up the nickname “Kayo,” and more than 90 years later, “Everybody still calls me that. It stuck.”

She attended Ravenhill Academy, Springside School, a boarding school at the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Connecticut and finished her senior year abroad at La Petite Ecole in Florence, Italy. The year abroad sparked a lifelong appreciation for art and travel. Emilie married attorney Philip A. Brégy in 1941, and they raised four daughters on a property called Firefly Farm in Plymouth Meeting. 

Brégy took courses at Temple University's Tyler School of Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, but she did not graduate from either one. “I am not a graduator,” she told me with a smile, but she did have a 25-year career as a guide at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Brégy’s formal portraits of politicians, college presidents and judges are displayed throughout the U.S. Her portraits of former Pennsylvania Gov. Raymond Shafer (1967 to 1971) and several Commonwealth Court judges hang in the State Capitol Building in Harrisburg. She also painted a portrait of Milton Eisenhower, brother of former General and President Dwight D. “Ike” Eisenhower. She has one portrait hanging in Philadelphia City Hall of former Common Pleas Court Judge Ed Russell, long-time Chestnut Hill resident whose wife, Ruth, was a Chestnut Hill Local editor for decades.

In addition to Brégy's prominent public figures, her informal family portraits of men, women and children with their pets hang in countless Philadelphia area homes. Each portrait involved at least five sittings. In addition to numerous watercolor landscapes of the Maine coast, her paintings also document trips to India, Thailand, Japan, Yemen, Italy, Spain and Mexico.

Brégy would paint a photographic realism landscape and then an abstract rendering of the same scene, such as a rocky shoreline. Her own favorite artists were Matisse, Wolf Kahn and Oscar Bluemner.  

In addition to her art career, Emilie’s days were filled with community volunteerism. She was a member of the Four Counties Garden Club and Garden Club of America for over 70 years, and she served on the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Women’s Committee for 63 years. She was a life-long supporter of Morris Arboretum and Friends of the Wissahickon.

Brégy maintained memberships at the Philadelphia Cricket Club, Sunnybrook Golf Club and Causeway Club in Maine. She grew up riding, sailing, fishing and canoeing. She and her husband took many vacations with their daughters that included biking, hiking, climbing, swimming, sailing and canoeing.  

According to Brégy's daughter, Anne Saltman, “Emilie taught us what it means to be a loving mother, proud grandmother and great-grandmother, and she exhibited steadfast loyalty to friends and family. She taught us how to see the goodness in all people and to be grateful for the treasures that life brings. She was admired for her positive spirit, humility, integrity, wonderful sense of humor and compassion for others. Although Emilie was a lifelong practicing Catholic, she exhibited genuine interest in all cultures and religions and remained respectful of others with different views and backgrounds.”

Brégy is survived by her brother, Willis M. Rivinus, four daughters — Phyllis Flail, Carol Reznikoff, Joan Brégy and Anne Saltman — 12 grandchildren, 17 great grandchildren and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.

A memorial will be held 10 a.m. on Saturday, April 12, at St. Philip Neri Church in Lafayette Hill, followed by a reception at Cathedral Village at 1 p.m. In lieu of flowers, contributions in Emilie’s memory can be made to Morris Arboretum or Historic Strawberry Mansion.

More information is posted on the Lownes Funeral Home website, lownes.com. Len Lear can be reached at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com