Kathryn E. Altman

Kathryn Ann Ensminger McIntyre Altman of Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, passed away on Wednesday, August 19, 2020, from causes related to cancer, in the comfort and care of her family.

Kathryn was born April 1, 1933, in Mantorville, Minnesota, as the second of four daughters of Ross Emanuel Ensminger and Margaret Goodhue Ensminger. Her childhood years were spent on the campus of Southern Union College in Wadley, Alabama, where her father was president and her mother was the primary fundraiser. Her parents engaged their children in the social justice issues of the day. Her father, grandfather Fred P. Ensminger, and great-grandfather Henry S. Bennett were Congregational ministers, and her great-grandfather Horace Goodhue was the first dean at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. The family moved to Carlinville, Illinois, when Kitty was a teenager; her father taught sociology at Blackburn College, and her mother taught English and later served as a librarian in the public schools.

Kitty graduated from Carlinville Community High School in 1950. She earned a B.A. from Blackburn College in 1954 with a major in social sciences and a minor in elementary education.

She met James H. McIntyre in 1953 when they were both summer workers at College Camp on Lake Geneva in Wisconsin (now George Williams College), and they married in Carlinville in December 1953. They started out married life in Chapel Hill, NC, and then moved to Charleston, SC, in 1956, where they lived on the campus of The Citadel Military College. They raised two children, Sandra and Steve. Kitty and Jim separated in 1968 and later divorced. She married John Graham Altman III in 1972 and they later divorced. Later in life, at her high school's 50th reunion, she reconnected with Dave Card, and they were "special friends" on many adventures.

Kitty had a long and meritorious career in public education. After teaching fifth grade at Harbor View Elementary School on James Island, SC, from 1960–1962, she earned an M.S. in guidance and counseling at Florida State University in 1963. She served as Director of Guidance at St. Andrew's High School in Charleston from 1963–1970.

She earned a doctorate in counselor education at the University of South Carolina in 1973 and began more than two decades of work in educational administration with the Charleston County School District. As Coordinator of Guidance from 1972–1983, she advocated for hiring guidance counselors at all levels in the public schools, including middle schools and elementary schools. She led the CCSD Human Relations Program component of a major federal grant under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in the late 1970s and early 1980s, designed to complete the process of school desegregation. She trained and supervised consultants to work with public education faculty and staff to support the changes needed. She became Director of Pupil Personnel Services for the District in 1983 and served in that role until her retirement from the school system in 1995. After the Hurricane Hugo disaster in Charleston in 1989, she organized counseling services for students and their families, and she participated in several international meetings about disaster preparedness thereafter.

Parallel to her work in the school district, she was an Adjunct Professor in Counselor Education at The Citadel School of Education from 1973–2008. In her private counseling practice from 1995–2008, she worked with children and their families, and she served as a counseling supervisor for professional counselors.

She served as a charter member in 1985 of the South Carolina Board of Examiners for Licensure of Professional Counselors, Marriage and Family Therapists, Addiction Counselors and Psycho-Educational Specialists, and served as president, vice president, and secretary during her tenure from 1986–1992. She led the effort to write the code of ethics and to establish standards and training guidelines for counselors and for counseling supervisors.

Kitty served on the national board of trustees for the College Board, the educational research and testing non-profit organization created to expand access to higher education. She was a member from 1963 onward of the South Carolina Counseling Association and served as its president in 1977–1978. She was a member of the American Counseling Association from 1963 onward and served on its board of directors in 1978–1981. She was a member of Phi Delta Kappa, the professional association for educators, from 1978. She was a member of the Society of Adlerian Psychology.

Kitty was recognized by her peers for her commitment to public education and her service to the counseling profession. In 1975, she was awarded Outstanding Administrator in the Personnel and Guidance Profession in South Carolina by the South Carolina Personnel and Guidance Association (now the South Carolina Counseling Association). The South Carolina Association of Counselor Educators and Supervisors selected her as the Outstanding Counselor Supervisor of 1985. The Citadel School of Education inducted her into its "Wall of Fame" in 2009 to recognize her teaching and her work with the licensure board and with elementary counselors.

She was a long-time member of the Circular Congregational Church in downtown Charleston and served as president of the congregation. She served on the board of the Charleston Hotline Service that originated there, and helped develop "Rap Action Groups" for substance abuse prevention. She co-chaired the Family Education Center, with the goal of teaching parenting and leadership. She was part of the Bee Team of Sweetgrass Garden that brought the first hives of mite-resistant bees to the Charleston area, and she worked with the hives to extract honey and make bee balm. She served on the board of the Upward Bound college preparatory program at the College of Charleston and was involved with the Charleston Area Justice Ministry. She blazed trails for social justice throughout her life, finding ways to initiate and organize change for the long term with unshakeable faith in human potential.

Kitty was a lifelong bridge player and achieved Gold Life Master status in 2013. She was president of the board of the nonprofit Charleston Bridge Club when it decided, after 50 years of renting space at various sites, to break ground in 2001 on its own Lowcountry Bridge and Education Center. She helped start the bridge education program at the new Center and taught classes and directed games until early 2020.

She is lovingly remembered by family and friends for her sincere curiosity and personal warmth. She was noted for her listening skills and the depth of her concerns and empathy. She was a role model and mentor to many, including scores of people in counseling and other helping professions. She treasured brunches with her Friday group of friends who met near the Folly Pier and at other restaurants, her church community, and her bridge community.

Kitty was always ready for an adventure and enjoyed celebrating life's joys with friends and family. Some of her adventures included camping across America, traveling to Europe and the Caribbean, captaining her sailboat Empathy in the Charleston harbor and up the Wando River, learning to ride a motorcycle, doing Nia dancing, and investing in an Edisto Island beach house. She was always ready to sample the food at a new seafood restaurant, support a new local artist, or read a recommended book. She enjoyed her home on the banks of the Ashley River for many years, where she hosted several Fourth of July fireworks viewing parties. In 2018 she moved to The Palms independent living center (Cooper Hall) in Mt. Pleasant, where she made new friends and was elected president of the residents association in early 2020.

She is survived by two children, Sandra Ann McIntyre (and husband Hobson Calhoun) of Ann Arbor, MI, and Stephen Ross McIntyre (and wife Miriam Boydstone McIntyre) of Hickory, NC; three grandchildren, Kathryn Marie McIntyre Markwell (and husband Clinton Markwell) of Falls Church, VA, Margaret Ruth McIntyre of Washington, DC, and James Brandon McIntyre (and wife Lauren Elizabeth McIntyre) of Chapel Hill, NC; one great-grandchild, Cara James McIntyre; and sisters Margaret Emily Ensminger (and husband Sheppard Kellam) of Pasadena, MD, and Beth Ensminger Vanfossen of Staunton, VA. She was proud of her children and grandchildren and encouraged them in their accomplishments and connections in life.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her older sister, Ruth Mary Ensminger McGraw; and a great-grandchild, Ethan Maxwell McIntyre.

The family will hold a private memorial gathering in a few weeks. Cremation services by Stuhr's Funeral Home in Charleston.
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