Arlette Schutte, born in Houston on January 12, 1938, passed away on September 20, 2005, at a Houston hospital surrounded by loving and lifelong friends, after a courageous battle with multiple myeloma.

Arlette loved to travel, and had visited 109 countries. When she was only 27, she and a friend traveled around the world on a shoestring budget. Beautiful on the outside and equally beautiful on the inside, Arlette lived every day of her extraordinary life to the fullest. Everything she attempted, she mastered, with flair and incomparable zest, enjoying each new endeavor and adventure. Arlette above all had an unmatched gift for friendship. Her friends hope they can honor her memory by courageously relishing life as much as she did.

A consummate teacher, Arlette spent the last three years of her life teaching English at Dalian Maritime University in China. In China she held “movie nights” in her apartment for her students, playing DVDs in English with Chinese subtitles. She sometimes required her students to act out scenes from the movies they watched, to improve their oral English skills. Arlette studied Chinese and was able to read and write the characters, as well as speak the language. She was very proud of the number of Chinese words in her vocabulary.

Arlette was also a pioneer in the American Contract Bridge League’s Education Program, responsible for training and accrediting hundreds of bridge teachers in the 1980s and 1990s. She created the ACBL’s popular continuing education course, “Bridge Teachers and Bridge Cruises” in 1995, which is still being offered. For years she served as a bridge host and teacher on many ocean cruises for several cruise lines. Arlette starred in the ACBL’s production for PBS, “Bridge Brush Up,” and was a former trustee of the ACBL Educational Foundation. She could compete as well as teach, attaining Silver Life Master status in the ACBL.

A woman of many talents, as a stockbroker on Wall Street she was the first female to be promoted to Institutional Sales. Having also been a building contractor, Arlette created a stylish update of a waterfront home she owned in Daytona Beach-doing most of the work herself. At one time an avid golfer, she had been a member of Merion Country Club in Philadelphia and moved to Hilton Head so she could play golf every day. In recent years Arlette also competed successfully in ballroom dancing.

Arlette graduated from Houston’s Austin High School in 1955, and earned bachelors and masters degrees from the University of Houston. She considered herself a citizen of the world. At various times she lived in Houston, New York, Mexico City, London, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Hilton Head, Daytona Beach, and Dalian, China. Arlette was preceded in death by her parents, Thelma Graham Schutte and Myles G. Schutte of Sealy, and her brother, Myles Schutte of Canyon Lake. She is survived by her nephews, Charles Hall Schutte and Myles Paul Schutte, and legions of friends near and far, from Dalian, China to Daytona Beach.

A gathering to share memories of Arlette will be held on October 23, 2005.

Arlette’s friends request that memorial contributions be made either to the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, 51 Locust Avenue, Suite 201, New Caanan, CT 06840, www.multiplemyeloma.org/foundation; or to Arlette’s favorite Asian charity, DEPDC, the school near Chang Mai, Thailand that feeds, houses, clothes and educates young people (mostly girls) rescued from the sex trade in Asia. Donations to DEPDC should be made payable to Origin, Inc.and sent to Friends of Thai Daughters, c/o Jane McBride, P.O. Box 370, Trevett, ME 04571, www.friendsofthaidaughters.org.