On Sunday afternoon, March 21, with spring very much in the air, 70 guests gathered in the Washington Athletic Club's elegant Crystal Room for a special champagne lunch to commemorate Ethel Kemp Slaughter's 85th birthday.
Ethel Kemp Slaughter: longtime Queen Anne resident and a prime candidate for my Queen Anne Grande Dame A list. A grande dame (be sure you use the French pronunciation), according to Webster's Dictionary, is a great lady or elderly woman of prestige and ability. I prefer my definition: a lady of mature years, generally 80-plus, who has retired from a highly successful career but not from life, who continues to work as an active volunteer, helping others with compassion, wisdom and humor, sharing the benefits of her long experience with many organizations.
Ethel Kemp Slaughter was born to a prominent pioneering family. The Kemp family tree with strong English roots produced many branches, with Kemps pioneering Washington state and all over the U.S. Many Kemps emigrated 100 years ago to the far-flung parts of the British Empire.
Ezra Kemp left England in 1897 and helped domesticate Washington Territory. He encouraged his newlywed nephew Percy and his wife Alice to come West. They did not quite make the Mayflower, but arrived some 200 years later on the White Star Liner Olympic, then by train to rural Idaho. Percy and Alice Kemp were Ethel's parents, bringing with them their English traditions, which they carried on in the Wild West.
Ethel Kathleen Kemp was born March 21, 1919, preceded by her brother Walter and sister Elizabeth. Shortly after her birth, the family moved to Prosser. There young Ethel grew up, attended Prosser High School and graduated with honors. She continued her education at Central Washington University in Ellens-burg.
Following her graduation, she taught for a year in White Swan, where she met her future husband, Hugh Slaughter, the son of another prominent pioneering family. They were married in 1943. Ethel's engagement party and subsequent wedding made the Prosser paper's social pages, where she was described as "a winsome bride."
The couple had two sons, Michael and James. Hugh Kemp served in the Pacific during World War II, and Ethel moved to the quaint little village (as it was then) of Bellevue, continuing her teaching career in Bellevue and Lake Forest Park and the Seattle School District. She would retire in 1982 after 32 years of teaching. Her two sons, helped by teachers, marked the occasion with a retirement dinner in her honor at the Washington Athletic Club.
Although Ethel was retired, she was by no means idle. She remained an active member of the Queen Anne Orthopedic Guild, the Milk Fund and the Women's University Club, where she has chaired many events and served on committees. She is a 40-year subscriber to Seattle Opera and an active member of the Seattle Opera Guild, a well-loved member of the English Speaking Union of 35 years standing, and the Queen Anne Order of the Eastern Star, hosting many meetings and social gatherings and giving great parties in her very English Queen Anne home. All this, as well as entertaining her many visiting Kemp cousins, still taking time out to go globetrotting and visiting those same Kemp cousins in England, Wales, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Vancouver, Mexico and all over the United States.
Over the years, Ethel and the Kemp/Slaughter family have been featured many times in the social pages of The Seattle Times and Seattle Post-Intelligencer at a more leisurely time when we still had social columns in the local press.
Her son James Kemp Slaughter is an expert fine-arts appraiser. Other son Michael Kemp Slaughter was an English and history teacher at McClure Middle School. Michael was known for his historical-markers project with McClure students and historical preservation with the Queen Anne Historical Society. One such marker is the Captain Vancouver Historical Marker at Betty Bowen Viewpoint; another, the Ballard Mansion Plaque on Highland Drive.
My late husband and I first met Michael in the mid-'60s through our radio programs, The British Hour and Stately Homes of England. A nice young man and a great anglophile, he would call the station regularly to chat with me, offering to share Noël Coward records and chat about stately homes. He was especially interested when two villages, Upper and Lower Slaughter, were mentioned (these had no connection with the Slaughter family).
We finally met the Kemp Slaughter family at an English Speaking Union social event. It seemed that our nice young man also had a lovely mother, Ethel, and an older brother James who shared all our interests in English history, antiques, traditions, etc. They lived just a stone's throw from us on Queen Anne Hill.
We organized many ESU functions over the years with James serving on the board. Michael was a great organizer and continued with many civic project until his untimely death in 1989. James has continued his English traditions and giving lectures on antiques, authored a book entitled "Glovebox Guide to Washington's Historic Houses," lectured on antiques and historic Seattle homes to the English Speaking Union and helped assemble the archives for the 75th anniversary of the ESU. I could tell you many wonderful stories about James and Michael, but this is Ethel's party, so let's get back to it.
Many of the Kemp family sisters, cousins and aunts flew in especially for the party from Oak Harbor, England, France, New York, North Carolina, California, Harrah, Vancouver (B.C.), Portland, Prosser, Yakima and Bellingham. They shared stories of Ethel's early years in Prosser and reports of later parties in Palm Springs given by her son, James, for the past 10 years.
Guests included many Magnolia and Queen Anne residents plus two Queen Anne Grande Dames featured in my column, Helen Price and Sarah Reed Plum, as well as representatives of the many organizations that Ethel was associated with. Everyone toasted dear Ethel, enjoyed a delicious lunch and fabulous Washington Athletic Club Neapolitan birthday cake, and sang "Happy Birthday!"
So here's wishing a happy 85th birthday and many more to a lovely and gracious lady who has influenced hundreds of young people, her students, raised two wonderful sons and given a great deal to the community. We all love her dearly and are very proud to call her our friend, and all agree that Ethel is imminently qualified to join the ranks of Queen Anne's Grande Dames. TTFN
Linda Greenwald - Linda of London -is a longtime Queen Anne resident and consultant on all things British.
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