Jane "Kitchie" Tolleson died at her home in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Wednesday, July 22, 2020. Born Jane Carolyn Roseberry, on March 13, 1930, in Paris, Kentucky, she was the daughter of Kathryn Marsh and Hiram Montgomery Roseberry. She graduated from Stuart Hall in Staunton, Virginia, and Sweet Briar College, later serving on both Boards and receiving Outstanding Alumna Awards from both institutions. In 1954, she was married to John A. Ewald Jr., her Co-State Chairman of Virginia Youth for Eisenhower. Having attended the University School of Law for one year, she accepted a summer job in the Office of Senator John Sherman Cooper (R-Ky) and remained in Washington in that office while attending Georgetown University School of Law at night. The Ewald's lived in Garden City, New York, for many years where Mrs. Ewald served in countless capacities with the local hospitals, the Community Fund, and was President of the Junior League of the North Shore, Long Island, Inc. In 1970, the Ewald's purchased Verulam Farm in Ivy, Virginia, and engaged in thoroughbred horse breeding and racing. In 1974, Mrs. Ewald founded The Very Thing!, a gift shop at the Boar's Head Inn which subsequently became the national mail order catalog of the same name, operating in Crozet, Virginia with a large national circulation until its sale in 1986. John Ewald Jr. died in 1979. In 1982, she married Roy M. Tolleson Jr., an attorney of Grosse Point, Michigan. They made their homes in Charlottesville, Virginia, Gulf Stream, Florida, and Harbor Springs, Michigan. Mrs. Tolleson was an active council member with the Heart & Vascular Center of the University of Virginia Medical School Foundation, the Law Council, and Focused Ultrasound Foundation. She served on the Board of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, and was a member of the Colonial Dames of America Chapter XVII, and the Raven Society of the University of Virginia. She is survived by two sons, John Hiram "Hi" Ewald and his wife, Molly, and Charles Hildreth "Hill" Ewald and his wife, Marion, both of Charlottesville, Virginia; a daughter, Kathryn Ewald Brooks of Dorset, Vermont; six grandchildren, Meme Ewald, John Ewald, Austen Ewald Adams, Oliver Adams, Caroline Ewald, and John Reilly Ewald and his wife, Elizabeth; one great-granddaughter, Penelope Ewald; one step great-grandson, Calvin Haneline; and three beloved stepdaughters, Suzanne Tolleson, Betsy Tolleson Meyers, and Christine Tolleson Collins. The family would like to thank Emily, June, Annette, Sheryl, Ellen, Jill, Leslie, and Melanie for the devoted and compassionate care. There will be a private graveside service. In lieu of flowers, please consider a memorial donation to The Charlottesville Free Clinic, 1138 Rose Hill Drive, Suite 200, Charlottesville, VA 22903.
Posted in The Daily Progress, July 25, 2020