January 02, 2007

Contact:   Bill Giduz 704/894-2244 or bigiduz@davidson.edu

James F. "Jay" Chitty IV ' 07, who died with three family members on December 31 in the crash of a family plane, will be honored in an on-campus memorial service on Thursday, January 18. It will begin at 4 p.m. in Davidson College Presbyterian Church. Davidson students are on winter break until Monday, January 15.

Services for all four members of the Chitty family are being held Friday, January 5, at the First Baptist Church in Shelby, N.C. (120 N. Lafayette Street, 704-482-3467). A graveside service will begin at 11 a.m. at Sunset Cemetery, next to the church, and a memorial service will begin at the church at 2 p.m.

Jay and his father, mother, and younger brother were returning from Manteo, N.C., to their home in Shelby when the crash occurred at about 11:30 a.m. in a Charlotte neighborhood. The surviving member of the family is Haley Chitty, 25, who works with Campus Crusade for Christ and was not aboard the single engine Cessna.

According to news reports in The Charlotte Observer and The Shelby Star, the plane was registered to Jim Chitty 53, Jay's father, a real estate appraiser and owner of J.F. Chitty & Associates in Shelby. He was an instrument rated pilot and a member of the Shelby Municipal Airport Advisory Board.

Jay's mother, Kay, taught math at Cleveland County Community College. His younger brother, Taylor, was an eighth-grader at Shelby Middle School.

Jay was a math major and one of the captains of Davidson's men's tennis team. He was the nephew of Steve Young ' 79, and grandson of the late Carlos Young ' 36.

Recently retired Davidson tennis coach Jeff Frank ' 66 recruited Jay to play at Davidson. In an interview in The Charlotte Observer Frank said, "He was the kind of kid you never had any trouble with. He got great grades. And in a sport as competitive as tennis ... I think Jay was the only one that people never ever got mad at. He was a fierce competitor, but he was very gracious in losing."

The Chittys are a "well-known tennis family," Frank said. The parents often traveled with their children to tournaments. Jay was state champion in doubles as a senior in high school. Last summer, Taylor attended Frank's Davidson tennis camp, and Jay worked there as a counselor.

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