Alice Kitt was practically unstoppable when it came to working for the rights of developmentally disabled people and seniors.
Kitt, who died Dec. 5 at age 67, was a tireless advocate for those “who couldn’t afford a $250-an-hour lawyer,” said Sharon Thorson of Parker, who worked with Kitt for 20 years at Guardianship Alliance of Colorado.
A service in Kitt’s honor is planned at 1 p.m. Jan. 4 at Faith Bible Chapel, West 64th Avenue and Ward Road in the west campus worship center.
Kitt died from complications of surgery and colon cancer. She had earlier battled leukemia.
She became active in helping the disabled because her son, Alan Darland, was born with Down syndrome. He was one of the many people Kitt helped move into independent living after she joined Residential Services Inc. in the 1980s, now called Personal Affordable Living. She was director until her death.
She was also president and director of Guardianship Alliance from 1989 until her death. The two jobs overlapped. Kitt was an active volunteer with state agencies helping disabled people.
“She was truly one of those quiet heroes,” said her cousin and friend Lela Rhodes of Lakewood.
“She was an extremely independent woman,” said her daughter, Deanna Custer of Arvada. “You couldn’t tell her something couldn’t be done, because she’d make it happen.”
Kitt never stopped, even when she was hospitalized during her illnesses. Several months ago “she was calling state senators from her hospital bed,” about a proposed bill in the state legislature that affected the disabled, said Custer.
“She wasn’t pushy,” Rhodes said, “she would just say over and over, ‘This needs to be done.’ ”
For more than 10 years Kitt volunteered for ARC, which originally stood for Association for Retarded Citizens, and served as its president and governmental-affairs chairperson.
The hundreds for whom she advocated included not only the disabled but people seeking help in caring for elderly parents and relatives.
Kitt had hoped to beat cancer, and when she retired, “her dream was to make wedding dresses,” her daughter said. She had made her own and those of family members.
“Mom could sew, garden and bake. I can’t do any of those things,” Custer said.
Alice Higgins was born in Meeker on April 3, 1940. Her family moved several times, eventually settling in Albuquerque, where she graduated from high school. She attended a year of college and then married Jan Darland in 1960, and they had two children: Janice O’Toole of Colton, Wash., and Alan Darland of Arvada. They divorced, and she later married Martin Kitt. They had one daughter, Deanna Custer, of Arvada.
In addition to them, she is survived by eight grandchildren and her mother, Doris Higgins of Durango.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
