Harriet M. (Hotchkiss) Ebitz, 101, of Great Barrington passed away peacefully on April 19, 2024, at Fairview Commons in Great Barrington. Born on the family farm in Southfield on February 2, 1923, she was the daughter of the late Ernest D. and Mary E. (Bowen) Hotchkiss.
Harriet witnessed many changes in the world in her lifetime, having grown up on a farm with no running water or electricity and with horses used for farm work and often transportation. She was the last surviving student of the former one-room Huxley School in Southfield and a graduate of New Marlborough Central High School, class of 1941.
After graduation, she went to work for the former Turner and Cook Whip Factory in Southfield, where she made leather mallets used for the manufacturing of airplanes for World War II. She then worked at the former Great Barrington Manufacturing Co. before starting her family. Once her children were in school, she worked at the former Hillside Kindergarten and Nursery School and then Vesper Hill Nursery School, and later for Berkshire Children’s Community in childcare and as coordinator of volunteer services.
In retirement, Harriet was an active volunteer for the Claire Teague Senior Center in Great Barrington, where she taught a popular class in chair exercise into her 90s. She was known for her knitting and crocheting and donated countless pairs of mittens, hats, and baby sets for the senior center to sell.
Harriet was a member of the First Congregational Church in Great Barrington and volunteered for many years, assisting with dinners, bazaars, and weekly services, as well as knitting mittens and hats that the church distributed to children in need.
Harriet worked part time for several years in the circulation department of the former Berkshire Record. She served on the Great Barrington Council on Aging for 15 years and on the board of the local chapter of AARP.
Harriet lived independently until she was 94, at which time she became a resident of Fairview Commons.
She is survived by her daughter Jean Clement (Kenneth Maurus) of Menifee, Calif.; her son James (Susan) Ebitz of Otis; and three grandchildren, Derek (Sarah) Clement of Irmo, S.C., Mikaela Ebitz of Poestenkill, N.Y., and Colton Ebitz (Eliza Hazen) of West Bethel, Maine. She also leaves five great-grandchildren, Alexander, Oliver, and Noah Clement of Irmo and Lilith and Lincoln Linville of Poestenkill, as well as nieces and nephews, including Robert (Claire) Hotchkiss of Pittsfield and Judith (William) Wagner of Hudson Falls, N.Y. She was predeceased by three sisters, Bessie, Gertrude, and Marion; two brothers, Walter and Harold; her niece Dorothy Ferrante; and her former husband Francis Ebitz.
There will be a service for Harriet Ebitz at 11 a.m., on Monday, April 22, at Finnerty & Stevens Funeral Home, 426 Main St., Great Barrington, with a burial to follow at Peltonbrook Cemetery in Great Barrington. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the First Congregational Church or the Claire Teague Senior Center through the funeral home. To send remembrances to the family, please visit the funeral home’s website.
