Melanie Ella Kitchner

Melanie Ella Kitchner (née Seymour) was born on July 13, 1949 in Swarthmore, PA. She passed away on November 28, 2025, after recently discovering she had Stage IV cancer. She is survived by her husband of 48 years, Dr. Irving Kitchner, MD; her daughter, Jessica Anne Murphy (Christopher Robert), and their children, Flynn David and Marlowe Victoria; her son, David Louis Kitchner (Qiujun Xie), and their daughter Penelope Anne; her brother, Charles Seymour, Jr (Pamela); her sister, Nancy Fitzgerald (Michael), and many nieces and nephews. She is preceded in death by her mother, Isabel Robinson Seymour, and father, Charles F. Seymour.

Ms. Kitchner, a graduate of Westchester University, was the OG side hustler. While her position of record was "stay at home mom," she never had less than five businesses going at any one time. She did public relations for local businesses; taxes for a local private school in Pennsylvania; and even wrote a weekly column in our local newspaper in Pennsylvania, where she interviewed an up and coming Martha Stewart.

When her children were older and more independent, she worked outside the home. During her time in Topeka, KS, she worked in marketing for Topeka Performing Arts Center, promoting acts such as the late George Carlin, Weird Al Yancovic, and BB King. (Then Kansas Governor, Kathleen Sebelius, was a huge BB King fan and Ms. Kitchner arranged a special meeting between the musical great and the Kansas Governor.)

Ms. Kitchner loved books and reading. She fell in love with the book The Deep End of the Ocean, which was Oprah's first selection in her book club. Ms. Kitchner was chosen as a guest on the Oprah Winfrey Show for the first book club episode. She was more excited to meet the author of this novel than meeting icon Oprah Winfrey.

In addition to her businesses, Ms Kitchner ran fundraisers and was president of the PTA. She organized her family's life.

Despite all Ms. Kitchner 's professional success, her favorite job was that of Granma to Flynn David Murphy (12), Penelope Anne Kitchner (11), and Marlowe Victoria Murphy (9).

Ms. Kitchner was deeply spiritual and found a home-away-from home with the Unitarian Church of Evanston. She utilized her vast organizational skills on committees to help in the advancement of the church's mission.

Ms. Kitchner believed in equality and justice, above all and lived those virtues on a daily basis.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Unitarian Church of Evanston at https://ucevanston.org