Katharine Spencer Bartee (du Mont, Ahlgren) Nava, born in Shreveport, La. on July 9, 1928, passed away Oct. 16, 2014.
She grew up in Arkansas and moved to Mobile in 1942 with her family.
She graduated from Murphy High School and Auburn University (fine arts) with honors and was a member of the Carnival Mardi Gras Court in 1950.
Kitty met Sidney Perryman du Mont Jr. while in school, and they spent summer days sailing on Mobile Bay.
Sidney was commissioned as a U.S. naval officer and they were married in Mobile. He was stationed in Hawaii and they moved there.
Kitty had three art shows running simultaneously, including at the prestigious Gima’s Gallery in Waikiki and in Maxwell’s Gallery in San Francisco.
Kitty moved back to Mobile and lived in a 100-year-old schoolhouse next to Spring Hill College. While raising her two sons, she taught art, did portraits, murals, window displays, fashion newsbook illustrations and architectural renderings in school.
She went to work with Mobile Fixture and Equipment Co. as an interior designer, filling country clubs, restaurants, colleges and hotels with her designs, mosaics, paintings and sculptures.
Kitty received the M.O. Beale Scroll of Merit given by the Mobile Press-Register for her part in obtaining the art gallery in Langan Park in Mobile, for her work with the Mobile Art Association, for sketching hundreds of children’s portraits in lieu of a donation to the church at church bazaars and fairs, and for other volunteer efforts.
Kitty married Charles Ahlgren and moved to his home in Annapolis, Md. on a bluff overlooking the Severn River. She designed interiors for Taft, Warren & Taft with offices in Washington and Baltimore.
She moved back to Alabama in 1971, buying a cottage in Fairhope and adding to it a spacious studio. She designed 13 stores for the Delchamps chain, and filled them with her paintings and sculptures.
In 1982, she met Jose Margarito Nava in New Orleans and they were married in Fairhope. They enjoyed 32 years together, and traveled to 30 countries and 49 states.
Kitty was preceded in death by her first husband and second husband; as well as her beloved stepdaughter, Eve Ahlgren (2012); her sister, Virginia Bartee Baumhauer (2002); and niece, Helen Baumhauer Dumars (2011).
She leaves her sons, Sidney Perryman du Mont III (USN CDR, Ret.) (Phyllis) and James Sheridan Bartee du Mont (Kristin); half-son Robert Bernhard du Mont III (USN CDR, Ret.) (Leslie); and grandchildren, Julianne, Emily and Melanie du Mont. She also leaves her nephew, Charles A. Baumhauer III (Joanne) and their children, Mary, Andrew, Kathleen and Bartee; and niece, Katharine Baumhauer Trawick and children Katherine, Wilson, Mat and their families. She leaves two dear friends, Joan Hogan and Liz Joyner.
Kitty lived a vibrant, exuberant, hardworking and fun-loving life, and died quietly in her sleep.
Services were held Oct. 23, 2014 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Daphne.
