Great Dame: Kitty Carlisle Hart

Tuesday night an amazing woman completed a very full life.

Kitty Carlisle Hart was 96.

I remember watching her on "To Tell the Truth" when I was a little girl, although I think what I saw were reruns. She struck me as a sassy, smart, funny woman and I wanted to be like her even then. After reading an article written in tribute to her, I still aspire to grow up to be the kind of woman she was.

She embraced her life and wrung all the enjoyment out of it until her very last breath. She loved big, she celebrated big, and lived her life big.

"Elegant and sophisticated then, and now — with hair, makeup and dress perfectly in place — Hart has been called a 'great dame.'

"In a piece on CBS' '60 Minutes' in 2000, Marie Brenner, author of 'Great Dames: What I Learned From Older Women,' said: 'A great dame is a soldier in high heels. ... They lived through the Depression. They lived through the war.

"'They were tough, intelligent and brassy women,' said Brenner, who described Hart as a great dame who 'walks into a room, and the room lights up.'

"David Lewis, her longtime musical director, said when he once asked her 'why she would attend events every single night of her life, and dress up and be the grand dame Kitty Carlisle Hart, she said that the grim reaper was lapping at her feet. She had to outpace him.'"

She was real, she was witty and she enjoyed the irony of life as well as anyone I've heard of. She is a great example of a woman who lived a joyful life while always treating herself and others with respect. As these Grand Dames' lives on earth are coming to an end, other women need to be ready to step up and take on their role. Young women need mentors and examples to follow as they move through the seasons of their lives. Although I could never expect to be as amazing as Mrs. Hart, I would love to be at least thought of in the same category as her one day!

link: Kitty Carlisle Hart