Constance De Beausset

Constance Lee Stanton de Beausset, age 92, died at home on November 20, 2012. Known as Connie, she was born August 10, 1920 in Detroit and grew up on Grosse Ile. She graduated from the Liggett School in Detroit in 1937. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Bryn Mawr College in 1941, where she majored in biology. Her hopes were to join research expeditions to little-known corners of the world. In pursuit of that goal, she acquired her pilot's license in 1943 and took a graduate course at the Wood's Hole Marine Biological Laboratory. On June 4, 1944 she married the adventurous Valery Sergei de Beausset, who shared her same dreams. Together, they lived in far-flung, Third World countries for most of their married life, where Val worked to raise the standard of living for the desperately poor in under-developed countries. They moved to Travancore, South India in 1945, where she volunteered in a home for "untouchable" children. Their first child was born in 1947 in Banglaore, India. In August 1949 they moved to Taiwan. They lived there until August 1957. While l living in Taiwan, Connie helped found Tunghai University and served on its Board of Directors. She also explored the interior of Taiwan, collecting aboriginal artifacts and mammals for museums. In addition, she designed and built five houses, wrote a weekly column for "The China Post" newspaper, studied Chinese landscape painting and had four more children. In 1959, the de Beausset's purchased the Rucker-Stanton house on Grosse Ile from Connie's grandmother's estate and lived there until 1960 when the family moved to the Sonora Desert of Mexico. There, Connie home-schooled their five children, and worked with her husband. In 1962, the family moved to Costa Rica where Connie became the Assistant Director and a teacher at the The Country Day School. In 1967, the family moved to Tegucigalpa, Honduras where they continued to live until 1989. In Honduras, Connie helped found El Hogar de Amor y Esperanza (The Home of Love and Hope) for abandoned boys, which became her most fulfilling work and closest to her heart. She served on the Board of Directors for El Hogar for 11 years, serving as Chairman for nine of those years. While in Honduras, Connie also helped design and build the Epsicopal Church in Tegucigalpa, as well as the airport on Utila Island, which was destroyed by a hurricane in 1974. Connie inherited Westcroft Gardens in 1984, and divided her time between projects in Honduras and Grosse Ile until the 1990's when she and her husband finally settled down at the Stanton-Rucker home on Grosse Ile. "My mother was always able to make any place we lived home, no matter if it was in the middle of the desert or up in the mountains of Honduras." said her daughter, Lee-Tai. "She always reminded us, however, that our roots are in Grosse Ile." Connie is survived by her five children, Indira de Beausset, Lee-Tai McKissack, Valerie Mesedahl, Denise de Beausset, Alexander de Beausset, her seven grandchildren, two great-grandchildren and her brother, Warren B. Stanton. The memorial service will be held on December 2, 2012 at 3:00pm in the Chapel of St. James Episcopal Church on Grosse Ile. In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Connie's life will be accepted for El Hogar de Amor y Esperanza or they can be sent to: El Hogar Ministries, Inc., 70 Church Street, Winchester, MA 01890 by making a check payable to El Hogar Ministries, Inc. for a tax deductible donation or online at: El Hogar Ministries, Inc.