PHOTO: Party Girls ~ Sallie and Alice at a reception, 2004
Sallie Kittredge will live on in all who knew her. Her presence will be with us backstage,
onstage, in the audience, along a bike path, on the beach, or over the garden fence.
She will be with us whenever cocktails are served, dinner has been ordered, the orchestra
is tuned, the curtain goes up-- in laughter, tears, applause and ovations, she will be there.
Sallie was as sunny and youthful as her name suggests. Hers was the brightest smile, the
heartiest laugh, the funniest story, the hottest gossip, the greatest jewelry. In later years,
the cane she sported seemed like just a prop that was added to her character. It made her
diminutive presence among us all the more magnetic. When you were out with Sallie, you
realized just how many people she knew, be it in a crowded lobby, a packed reception, or
at a busy restaurant.
Her mentoring of young people was legendary. How she loved the WMU Theatre
Department and its steady stable of young talent. Sallie knew that many of these student
actors and actresses were far from home. She was there for them as their biggest fan, (and
an occasional shoulder to cry on).
Sallie Kittredge was a Kalamazoo Symphony supporter of long standing, and a great friend
of Alice's. In recent years, Sallie opened up her home to young musicians from Chicago,
who needed a place to stay when in town for KSO rehearsals and concerts. Her grand piano
awaited them in her garden level guest suite.
"Rest in Peace" seems somehow incomplete. For Sallie, let us imagine she is shaking things
up inside those pearly gates! Party hearty old friend... and give my regards to Shakespeare!
-Alice's Archivist
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