The Maryland foxhunting community lost a great friend when former Green Spring Valley Hounds Master Kitty Jenkins passed away on Sunday, June 26, 2011.
According to current MFH Sheila Brown, Kitty was Master from 1975 – 1987.
“Kitty and my mother were MFHs together for Mum’s last year and they were great friends,” writes Brown. “Kitty was a lovely rider and a no-nonsense field master – if the field was too noisy she used to turn and say, ‘If you need to talk, use the telephone!’
“She loved hounds, horses and hunting; even after retirement she would drive her pony trap over to the kennels to make sure everything was just so. It was a treat to bring the new entry over for her inspection and we would always let her know the first day we were going to put hounds in the covert, so she could get up at the crack of dawn and listen to the hound music in the corn. Our thoughts and prayers go out to her family. Kitty will be sorely missed.”
There will be a Memorial Service at St. John’s Church in Glyndon at 11 A.M. on Thursday, June 30th, followed by a reception at the Green Spring Valley Hounds.
A Tribute to Mrs. Katharine Fisher Jenkins
By Andrew Barclay, retired huntsman
Foxhunting lost one of it’s best and most ardent supporters on Sunday June,26th with the death of Katharine (Kitty) Fisher Jenkins. Kitty was the third of seven children of Janon and Margery Fisher. The Fishers were an all around horse family, breeding many good race horses, the most successful being Mountain Dew, three time winner of the Maryland Hunt Cup. Kitty played a big role in his success, as she exercised him as well as hunted him. At the end of his racing career he would be hunted by her and live at her Mantua Mill Rd. farm.
Kitty married Charles Jenkins in 1950 and they had four children, Kitty, Louisa, Ellen and Charlie. Her time was now spent between hunting and parenting, but as her children got older the pressure to become a Master to the Green Spring Valley Hounds grew more intense. In 1974 she became joint master along with Mrs. Sheila Jackson. She was master until 1987, when a bad fall and a broken back caused her to retire. Kitty was a great master. She was tough, rode hard and well; she knew hounds and knew who to breed to whom. She understood farmers and farming. During the era when GSV had Kitty and Sheila as masters, the farming community had such a wonderful relationship with the hunt. In 1976 Mrs. Jackson stepped down and Kitty was joined by J.W.Y. (Duck) Martin. Later they were joined Skip Cochran and Frank Bonsal and then Walter Brewster and Ned Hale joined up, but there was no question who was the senior master. Kitty became master when I was a whipper-in and was master during my transition to Huntsman. She was a huge help to me and to our hunting during that transition.
After her retirement Mrs. Jenkins would travel the roads in a buggy being pulled by a pony. As our big brave hunters would come across this sight they would turn inside out. I know that it gave her great amusement. Later in life she was hassled by Huntington’s disease. This left Kitty with a mind that was as sharp as ever but she found it more and more difficult to express her thoughts. This had to have been very difficult to deal with, but as with anything she did in her life, she handled it was grace and dignity. Katharine Jenkins will be missed by all that knew her.
