Hometown Hero: Kit Dreyfuss

Katharine, ‘Kit’, Dreyfuss had to choose between being a teacher or a nurse. She won a fellowship to Vanderbilt Peabody to study to be an English teacher. At the same time she was accepted at Yale University School of Nursing. It was 1955 and, wanting to be near her boyfriend, John, who was at Boston University, she chose Yale.

In that choice she set herself on the path to a 46 year, loving marriage and, fortunately for Santa Monica, the path to becoming a beloved school nurse and a leader in education in Santa Monica.

In her twenties, following graduation from Yale and marriage to John, Kit worked as the School Nurse at the Harvard University lab school, Newton High School; in Claremont, as a public health nurse; in Pebble Beach, as a school nurse; back to Midland, where John would teach; in San Luis Obispo as a hospital RN; and Pasadena, where they moved when John went to work as a journalist for the LA Times.

Kit and John, with their four children – Karen, Jim, Kim and Katy - moved to Santa Monica in the late 1960’s. Kit’s first job in Santa Monica was at the Title 1 Pre-School. She added speaking Spanish to her language and nursing skills and worked to educate the children and their families for a successful transition to public, elementary school.

She took care of the colds, fevers, scratches and cuts that are the job of every elementary school nurse in her next job at Franklin. At the school there was an unusual cluster of children with diabetes and she organized ‘the lunch group’ where the children could have a safe place to learn how to manage their disease, cope with being ill, learn how to be good students and, most of all, have fun.

Kit took on the task of speaking to educators about girls and education as part of her commitment to her Women’s Group in Santa Monica. They met every Sunday evening and John was home every Sunday giving the children dinner and everything that parents do on Sunday night so their children will be ready for school on Monday morning. She continued to be active in the St. Augustine By-The-Sea Episcopal Church in Santa Monica and it was the Rev. Fred Fenton, from St. Augustine, who came to her support when she began her AIDS community education work.

Kit was Chair of the Steering Committee of School Nurses when she was the School Nurse at SAMOHI and the first SMMUSD Coordinating Nurse. Kit and the nurses began programs, pioneering and controversial at the time, which are now ongoing traditions at SAMOHI, including a ‘Growth and Development Program’. Kit says, “We put the boys and girls, and any parents who wanted to come, together to watch educational films. Then we divided the boys and girls so that they could ask questions and not be so embarrassed. But I thought it was important for them to be together to learn the facts about the changes that were going on in their own bodies and in each other bodies. I wanted them to be able to talk to each other.”

When there was a budget crisis (doesn’t that sound all too familiar?) and school nurses were threatened, Kit worked to get the first grant for SM Schools from the Santa Monica City Council. That grant started another Santa Monica tradition, the tradition of the City Council granting City funds to the Santa Monica Schools.

Kit says about her work in Santa Monica. “The thing about being the school nurse is that you get to know everyone personally and you end up belonging to the town where you live and I love that.”

Now retired, she recently returned from a trip to Hawaii with her children and their families, including her seven grandchildren. She practices the healthy living she taught her students, rides her bike every day and studies Tai Chi at the Y. On her wall are two silver headed hammers, national awards that she received from winning ergometer sprints when she and her husband rowed crew.

John died six years ago. Kit says, “I had to learn that your husband can die and you can, and should, still have a good life. It was hard.” She and John had first met when he was a student at Midland School where Kit’s parents worked. Her talented and very much in love parents raised Kit and her brother and sisters in an academic, outdoor, music, drama and church filled life and Kit continues their traditions.

Recently, Kit went, as part of the Memoir Club, a writing group of PS1 grandparents, to the park with the other grandparents and everyone’s families. She thought to bring balloons, and on a record breaking hot day, they filled the balloons with water and everyone had a great, and cooling, time. A small story, but emblematic of Kit’s way of always making life better for everyone.

Kit’s advice to us: “Work your head off and be as present as you can.”

What Say You: It’s A Small Town After All

This column is an invitation to a Santa Monica City Council Candidate Forum. It’s a recognition that Santa Monica is ‘on the map.’ It’s the saga of a dress. Mostly, it’s a story of gratitude.

Santa Monica is a City of world famous beaches; known for environmental stewardship; home to renowned chefs and star restaurants and leaders in the locavore movement. From the iconic Palisades Park to the creation of the new Civic Center Parks, from the fun of the Pier to the fun of GLOW - Santa Monica has the chops.

First, let me tell you a quintessential small town story, a story about a dress for a wedding that is really a story about a small town. It was Saturday, I went to the tailor’s to pick up my dress for the wedding of the son of dear friends. The store was unexpectedly closed. The wedding was the next day. What to do?

I looked for a sign in the window, “in case of emergency call….” Nada. I went into adjacent stores, told my story, got lots of sympathy, but no one knew how to contact the owner. I called the President of the Merchants Association. She, alas, had no contact info.

Then I saw the police car, parked at the curb. Remembering that Santa Monica now has beat officers so that local residents and merchants can know the officers in their area, I thought it was worth a try to ask him. But what about taking police time for a personal problem?

“Officer, may I ask a question? It’s a personal question and not a police question and I won’t take your time if you’re busy.” He politely asked what he could do to help. I told my story. His answer, “If I told my wife this story she’d tell me to break into the store and get the dress for you.” We both laughed. He called City Hall, but no luck.

Ready to give up, I called a friend, “Do you have a dress I could borrow?” And I even called a Santa Monica City Council member, who it seemed to me, knew everyone in Santa Monica, “Do you know how I could reach the tailor?”

The end of the dress story is that I got a call from the tailor, “Ms. Cloke, I got your number from the Santa Monica Police Dept.” We agreed to meet at the shop so I could get the dress in time for the wedding.

I was grateful to the tailor. But I was overflowing with gratitude for the sympathy and help I got from the merchants, the Council Member and the Police Department. I realized Santa Monica may have a worldwide reputation but is still a small town where people help each other with the small stuff.

The question for me is, how to make sure that we keep the small town ethic. I think one part of the answer is leadership. We are blessed with many wonderful leaders in our neighborhood, civic, educational and philanthropic organizations. We have City Council Members who give out their phone numbers, answer calls on Saturdays, and are here to help people.

In a little over six weeks, Santa Monicans will be voting to fill the five open seats on the City Council. There will be many ‘meet and greets’, candidates will be knocking on doors, residents will be getting fliers in the mail. And, the Santa Monica Mirror invites you to meet all the City Council Candidates and to hear their answers to the questions of the day.

The event is called “Hometown Forum.” It will be held in the MLK Auditorium at the Main Library, on Monday, October 11. Candidates will be there at 6:30 p.m. to meet-and-greet and the Q&A will begin at 7 p.m.

The forum questions for candidates will come from community organizations and individuals, not from the editorial board of the Mirror. You can send in your questions for the candidates to election@smmirror.com And, of course, the Mirror will have information about the candidates and the election from now until Election Day and after.

I’m hoping we elect people who are committed to environmental stewardship, to protecting our beaches, to building parks, to the quality of our schools, to our civic organizations, to our educational organizations, to our neighborhoods, and to our local businesses, to making City government work for the people of the city, and to never losing the small town ethic.

What Say You?