Ethel Tison Chaffin, longtime resident of Athens, died at her home on December 15, 2018. The daughter of William White Tison and Ethel Claverie Tison, she was born Corinne Ethel Tison on January 13, 1921, in Natchitoches, Louisiana, where her father was president of Louisiana State Teachers’ College (now Northwestern State University).
The creative arts were emphasized in her parents’ home, and she discovered her lifelong passion, dance, in childhood. At Louisiana State University, she majored in Modern Dance, earning her bachelor’s degree at age 19. She was a member of Chi Omega Sorority and Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society.
Following graduation from LSU, she studied under a number of pioneers in Modern Dance, including Ethel Butler, Martha Graham, Doris Humphries, and Charles Weideman, at the University of Maryland, New York University, and Bennington College. She was a dance instructor at Georgia State College for Women (now Georgia College), and at LSU several years later.
During this period, she met Verner Chaffin, her future husband, then a law student at the University of Georgia School of Law. They married in 1943, in the midst of World War II. They spent significant time apart during their earliest married years due to Verner’s service in the U.S. Navy as a Japanese linguist and intelligence officer. Their children Ethel and Frank were born during these years.
Following the war’s end, Ethel taught children’s creative dramatics and dance at the YWCA in Washington, D.C., where her family lived for one year. She and her family moved to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and lived there between 1947 and 1957. Here Ethel maintained a private studio where she taught creative dance classes for children and performed on educational television. She was an instructor in stage movement for the University of Alabama’s Department of Speech and Drama, and in music and rhythms at Alabama State Hospital. She also played the leading role of Laura in the University’s Blackfriars’ theatrical production of Tennessee Williams’s “A Glass Menagerie.”
When Verner was recalled into military service during the Korean Conflict, Ethel and her children joined him in Tokyo, Japan. She enthusiastically took advantage of her time there by attending performances of Kabuki and Noh drama, and participated in traditional Japanese festivals. Upon her family’s return to Tuscaloosa, Ethel created, narrated, and performed in an educational television program on Japanese culture and art. She maintained her love of Japanese culture—visual arts, dance, theater—for the rest of her life.
Their daughter Mary was born after the family returned to Tuscaloosa. In 1957, Ethel and her family moved to Athens, Georgia, where Verner joined the faculty at the University of Georgia School of Law. Their youngest son John was born during their early years in Athens.
Throughout her 61 years in Athens, Ethel was dedicated to her community. She was a co-president of the Athens Community Concert Association. A founder of the Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation, she was a leader in historic preservation in Athens, instrumental in saving and restoring many historic houses and buildings, including Athens’ oldest surviving house, the Church-Waddell-Brumby House which now serves as the Athens Welcome Center.
She was a founding member of St. Mary’s Hospital Auxiliary, a board member of Athens chapter of Church Women United, and a long-standing member of the Wednesday Study Club and the Athens Junior Assembly.
Ethel loved learning and broadening her mind, a process she once described as “a whole world of ideas just waiting to be absorbed.” In her mid-fifties, she became a graduate student at the University of Georgia’s College of Arts and Sciences, studying the history of drama and theater. She earned the master of arts degree in 1982.
Her love of learning propelled her through the rest of her life. This priority was reflected in her generous support for the University of Georgia’s Department of Dance and School of Law, and for Louisiana State University.
Ethel will be remembered for her determined and stalwart activism, and her progressive advocacy of racial civil rights, gender equality, and LGBT non-discrimination. She will be remembered for her generosity of spirit, exemplified by her opening home and heart to people from many cultures and nations, cultivating and sustaining lifelong relationships.
Ethel was preceded in death by her husband of 74 years, Verner Franklin Chaffin; and her sister, Camilla Tison Rachal. She is survived by her four children: Ethel C. Simonetti (husband Vincent Simonetti) of Durham, North Carolina; V. Frank Chaffin (wife Mary Wynn Chaffin) of Cashiers, North Carolina; Mary Chaffin (husband Lance Murty) of Portland, Oregon; and John Chaffin (partner Elliot Pilshaw) of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She is also survived by five grandchildren: Pamela Chaffin, Daniel Murty, Gregory Chaffin, Jonathan Chaffin, and Carlos Chaffin. She is also survived by other special family: Antoinette Simonetti, Ellen Simonetti, John Simonetti, Katie Thomas, Liesel Walker, and Zev Pilshaw; by her sister, Laura Claire Tison Harris, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and by several nieces and nephews.
Ethel’s family will host a celebration of life reception, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday, December 19, at the Athens Welcome Center, 280 East Dougherty Street.
The funeral service will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, December 20, at Athens First Presbyterian Church. Burial will follow at Oconee Hill Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial donations be made to the American Dance Festival, the Ethel Tison Chaffin Endowment at University of Georgia Department of Dance, or the Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation.
American Dance Festival, Archives and Preservation, Box 90772, Durham, NC 27708
Ethel Tison Chaffin Endowment, Department of Dance, University of Georgia, 236 Dance Building, Athens, GA 30602
Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation, 489 Prince Avenue, Fire Hall No. 2, Athens, GA 30601
Bernstein Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
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