Marian Sedgwick Chittick, age 76, of Hingham,died on Wednesday, Feb. 16th at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
"Marian was a foodie," says Charlie, her husband of 53 years. True enough, Marian Sedgwick Chittick, who was born in Waterbury, Connecticut in 1928, and later graduated from Northfield Mount Hermon School and Skidmore College, had a lifelong interest in the science and art of food preparation.
She began her professional career at the Massachusetts General Hospital, where she received a graduate degree in nutrition. While she was at MGH, she met her husband, Charles Yardley Chittick, Jr., who she married in 1952. Charlie, a graduate of MIT, had joined the Navy as a fighter pilot, and they moved to Jacksonville, Florida where Marian worked as head of dietetics at St. Francis Hospital.
After the war, they moved back to Weston, Massachusetts, where Charlie started a career with Arthur D. Little, while Marian continued her profession as a consultant to the City of Newton in pre-school child nutrition. Soon the couple moved to Hingham, when Marian fell in love with a 1720 vintage home where they lived together for nearly 50 years.
With the birth of their two children, Charles and Tammy, in the early 1960's, her life's focus changed. In addition to childraising, Marian further honed her cooking skills and developed other domestic talents, studying crewel work under the watchful direction of Erica Wilson on Nantucket, and became an inveterate knitter - producing not only beautiful sweaters for family and friends, but even booties for the family's poodles and basset hounds.
She became active in the community as a member of the Hingham Garden Club of which she was Treasurer, a volunteer at the Old Ordinary, a devoted fundraiser for Skidmore, and also spent many years in charge of decorations and flower arranging at the New North Church through last Christmas.
As she and Charlie traveled extensively, Marian expanded her contacts in the gastronomic world, with emphasis on the south of France, Italy, and Japan, where she developed close friendships with many chefs and restaurant owners. Eventually, she and Charlie put theory into practice when they acquired a part interest in the Casablanca Restuarant in Cambridge.
Her favorite travel destination, however, was the Highlands of Scotland, where she and Charlie spent many happy days as guests at Cromlix House, with (naturally) a world class chef. Even as she became ill, Marian and Charlie were able to make one last visit to Cromlix House last fall.
In addition to her husband and children, Charles Sedgwick Chittick and Tamsen Chittick Langalis, Marian leaves six grandchildren: Colleen, Catherine, Charles and Connor Chittick of Hingham, and Christian and Andrew Langalis, of Rowayton, Connecticut.
A Memorial Service will be held at the New North Church, 1 Lincoln St., Hingham on Saturday, March 5th at 11 AM. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the Cancer Fund at Massachusetts General Hospital, 100 Charles River Plaza, Suite 600, Boston, MA 02114.