DOROTHY KITTY BRATTSTON

Adjust Text Size: A+ A-

DOROTHY KITTY BRATTSTON Former entertainer and teacher Dorothy Kitty Brattston passed away on March 5, 2004, aged 90, at Golden Links Lodge, Winnipeg. Predeceased by husband of 54 years Walter James Brattston; parents, Thomas and Annie Elizabeth Cropp; sister Edith Greaves; niece Anne Littlejohn and son-in-law Murray White. Survived by daughter Kathryn Rayner of Winnipeg; son David of Lunenburg, NS; grandchildren, Kathy and Douglas Rayner; one great-grandchild Juliette; nephew Bob Littlejohn and wife Betty; and their sons, Drewe, Greg and Wayne Littlejohn and their families. Kitty was born on June 23, 1913 in Lumsden, SK. Her father enlisted in the First World War in Regina in late 1914. While he was in France for four and one half years, mother Cropp, although handicapped by polio raised their family. Her love of music, dance and handicrafts soon transferred to her girls. Kittys sister Edith sang with the Canadian Juvenile Entertainers concert party during the war years. Then father brought the small family to reside in Winnipeg. Kittys stage career started after winning a talent contest at age seven. She sang and danced in most of the theatres in Winnipeg. At age ten she became a Baby Capitolian with Earl Hills Orchestra (his Capitolians) at the Capitol Theatre. She spent many happy years there. She was assistant teacher to Joyce Hague. After teaching in her home for a year, she opened a studio in downtown Winnipeg. Future husband Walter Brattston was the adagio and acrobatic teacher for Joyce Hague when he saw Kitty in a ballet class. He asked her to be his partner for exhibition waltz, tango, rumba, etc. They performed at the Royal Alexandra, Fort Garry and Marlborough hotels at suppers, dances, banquets and other gatherings. A little later in life, with marriage and two children, they began to teach and call square dancing. They taught the new square and round dancing from California that the Manitoba Dance Teachers Association had been asked to promote. The Brattstons were often asked to be guest callers at folk dance festivals in the northern United States. While teaching square dancing at Riverview and Windsor community clubs, it was discovered that Kitty could teach children to dance. She did this for fourteen years, with annual dance recitals. She adjudicated at dance festivals, mainly in Portage la Prairie. Still later, Kitty taught millinery and pattern making at night schools and community clubs. She also created headgear for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Rainbow Stage and Manitoba Theatre Centre for many years. After Walters retirement from the Manitoba Queens Printer, they spent winters in Weslaco, TX. Kitty found herself teaching tap and pattern dancing and directing stage plays and New Years entertainment. She learned synchronized swimming and the arts of Norwegian hardanger and Brazilian embroidery. Her talents in handicrafts won her many honours. A Top Aggregate at the Pacific National Exhibition in Vancouver for many years, she won plaques and money prizes. At age 80 she was the Top Aggregate Handicraft Winner at the Red River Exhibition, the first senior citizen to win that honour. She also made and donated church linens. She won many awards in both Vancouver and Winnipeg for embroidery, Norwegian hardanger, Brazilian needlepoint, and petit point. Kitty had been a member of the executives of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet Alumni Association, the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation, the McKinnon Guild of Childrens Hospital, and had been a volunteer at the Nearly New Shop run by the McKinnon Guild. One of the happiest occasions of her later life was the celebration of her ninetieth birthday with many friends and relatives. To mark their fiftieth wedding anniversary in 1985, Kitty and Walter bought funeral arrangements in the Evergreen Program for trees to be planted in their names in Haney, BC with their ashes to be scattered in the forest to keep BC green, with bronze plaques at the Vancouver Crematorium Cemetery, 5505 Fraser St., Vancouver. Flowers are gratefully declined. For those who wish, donations may be made to a chosen charity. Thomson Funeral Chapels are in charge of arrangements, phone 783-7211.

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Mar 07, 2004