Torchbearer Fall 2019

ight to vote and was a prolific
writer of Letters to the Editor
throughout her life, sharing her
views on various topics.
“She was not afraid to take
a stand, if she had a stand to
take!” Susanna jokes.
When her son Richard was born,
he suffered a birth injury and as
a result had learning difficulties,
which would come to define
much of Elizabeth’s life work
and her ultimate legacy.
Through her support for
her son’s special needs, she
became aware of the needs
of handicapped children and
their families in Bermuda. When
she learned that Richard could
be taught to read using the
Orton Gillingham multi-sensory
method, she decided she would
become a reading specialist and
enrolled at Columbia University
in New York in her late forties.
She had earlier completed her
undergraduate degree from
the University of Maryland by
correspondence, when her
children were younger. For her
M.A. Psychology of Reading
Difficulties at Columbia she
moved to New York while the
children were older.
Upon her return home, she
began working with local
children on reading assessments
and remediation in the 1960s,
out of her home, before
formally launching The Reading
Clinic in 1968. For over 20
years, Betty, her brother and her
sister would tutor students.
Susana recalls an art studio
around the back of the house:
“There was a little boy who was
nervous about the testing, so
I took him to the studio to do
some art, which I believe was
the beginning of my interest
in art therapy. My mother was
always so encouraging of my
artistic leanings.”
In 1980, Betty was awarded
an MBE for her services to the
handicapped in Bermuda and
legally changed her name to
Elizabeth in preparation for
receiving her medal.
In 1991, on land leased by The
Bermuda High School, The
Reading Clinic moved into its
own space and now serves over
Many Generations: Elizabeth with her greatgranddaughter,
Scarlett Smale ‘26.
Bright Future: Elizabeth married British Naval Officer
Geoffrey Kitson just before World War II. The couple
founded Kitson Insurance and Kitson Real-Estate.
80 children a year. In the
same year, Elizabeth was
awarded The Distinguished
Alumni Award from
Teacher’s College,
Columbia University for the
founding and establishment
of The Reading Clinic.
The following year, she
was made a fellow of the
Bermuda College.
Embodying the true BHS
spirit of service to the
community, Elizabeth
dedicated her life to
helping others. She
was Chairman of the
nonprofit organisation
Committee of Twenty
Five for Handicapped
Children for five years, a
Trustee of Friendship Vale
School until the Board
was disbanded, and a
Trustee of King Edward VII
Hospital and BHS.
Asked what she thought
her mother would say to
BHS students of today,
Susanna says: “Get your
education, but do what you
love. Find what it is you
love and follow it.”
There can be no better
example of a BHS leader
than Elizabeth Kitson; a
woman who achieved
remarkable things with quiet
grace and fortitude; starting
businesses, going back to
school for higher education
with a young family, following
a cause she believed in
and forever changing the
landscape of her island home
and the lives of hundreds of
young people.
As former Headmistress
Rose Gosling said to
students in a letter for
BHS’s 50th Anniversary:
“..my girls, wherever your
opportunity for service lies
– take with you that spirit
of integrity, courtesy, and
of willing and responsible
service that your old School
has striven to inculcate.”
There is no doubt that
Elizabeth Kitson epitomised
that spirit and Bermuda
has been left a better place
for it.
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