LOUISE BRISTOL

BRISTOL--Louise Getman. Louise Getman Bristol, age 94, died peacefully on February 25, 2019, at the Colonnades, a retirement community in Charlottesville, VA. The youngest daughter of Louise Dolittle Getman and Albert Alton Getman, Wesa, as she was known to family and friends, was born in Syracuse, New York in 1924. She was predeceased by her sister, Elizabeth Taylor, brothers William and Albert, her oldest son Douglas Petit Bates, Jr., and grandson Ian Hooker Bates. Wesa was educated at The Masters School in Dobbs Ferry and graduated from Smith College in 1945. In 1946, she married Douglas Petit Bates of Syracuse, and moved with him to Morristown, New Jersey, where they had four children, and he worked for the Esso Corporation until his sudden death in 1962. In 1964, Wesa married John W. Bristol, an investment advisor to high schools, colleges, and universities. They eventually moved to Far Hills, New Jersey with their now expanded family of six children, whom she stoically raised through the social and political upheavals of the 1960's. John and Wesa shared a strong commitment to the inherent value of education and took special interest in Hill Top Preparatory, a groundbreaking school for students with learning differences. Wesa was a talented bridge and tennis player, a haphazard but enthusiastic gardener, a watercolor painter, and avid traveler (though equally content enjoying a sunset from the porch of her cottage on Skaneateles Lake). She was also a dedicated angler on the North Branch of the Raritan and other faraway rivers, and a deeply generous and loyal friend. John Bristol died in 1994, and Wesa eventually moved to Charlottesville, Virginia to be with her daughter, Louise Satterfield. In addition to Louise (Calvin, IV), Wesa is survived by her sons, Carlton Albert Bates (Lourie) and William Sheldon Bates, her daughters, Nancy Bristol Homer (Stephen) and Barbara Bristol Kinnell, her daughter-in-law Grace Bates, her beloved grandchildren: Rufus Bates, Larissa Bates (David), Lucas Bates, Calvin Satterfield, V, Lila Satterfield, two great-grandchildren, Pilar and Sebastian Bates, as well as many cherished step-grandchildren, step-great- grandchildren, and nieces and nephews. Donations in her memory may be made to The Hill Top Preparatory School, 737 S. Ithan Avenue, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010.