Britten Hartnett Tyler Memorial Fund

Thank you for your interest and support. We are so honored and thankful to all the people that gave to Britten's Memorial Fund in the time after her passing. We have now closed down this GoFundMe fundraiser, but we will never stop working to ensure Britten continues to shine brightly.

To honor Britten, we have now started the Britten Hartnett Tyler Foundation (BHTF), which is organized as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable organization. BHTF was created to honor the memory of Britten and to pass the kind of love and healing that Britten embodied onto other families facing enormous challenges. Overall, the Foundation aspires to ensure families that are coping with the painful loss of a loved one have the emotional and financial support required to persevere and thrive.

If you would like to make a donation to BHTF, please go to brittybash.com, where you can learn about the event we are hosting in her honor and make a donation.

https://brittybash.com/donate

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As you may have seen elsewhere, Britten's family has asked that in lieu of flowers or other gifts, people consider a donation here on GoFundMe. Every dollar that is raised will go to the "Britten Hartnett Tyler Memorial Fund" at the Boston Foundation.

The Fund was established by her husband Wat to honor Britty's memory. His hope: the fund will enable he and their children Watty and Lila to connect to their Mom, her charitable soul and the spirit of giving; to support, in a material and meaningful way, the causes, communities and organizations Britten and they care about; and to serve as a lasting tribute to her legacy of love, family and friendship. 

Wat has already seeded it and will make it a priority to continue to contribute for the remainder of my life. Wat imagines it as a way to sit down with their kids and talk about what made Mommy so utterly magical, what was important to her, and how they can meaningfully honor her life, love and memory through helping others. 

You can donate to the fund via the Boston Foundation's website (https://www.tbf.org/britten) or here via this GoFundMe page. (Donations to this fund are tax-deductible with each gift in excess of the IRS minimum eligible to receive a receipt for your tax records.)

Thank you for all the love and support. 

See below for a remembrance of our beautiful, amazing, and wonderful Britten. 

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Britten Knauer Hartnett Tyler of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, passed away in the early morning of January 31st, 2021. She was 43 years old. 

Britten was born in Beverly, Massachusetts to mother Gynna Gutshaw Ames, of Hamilton, Massachusetts and father Richard Hartnett of Aiken, South Carolina. She was also met with love by her devoted older sister, Taryn Hartnett, of Wellington, FL. 

Britten spent her youth in Ipswich, Rowley, and Wenham, Massachusetts, on polo fields and in swimming pools and surrounded by horses, dogs, and birds, as well as friends that she would have for her entire life. Few people were as loyal as Britten. She had a rare understanding of the bigger picture and the significance of holding on to old friends. She had a magnetism that came from the combination of her beautiful fragility, extraordinary strength, and tear-inducing sense of humor.   

Britten graduated from The Brookwood School in Manchester By The Sea, Massachusetts; Pingree School in Hamilton, Massachusetts; and Elon University in Elon, North Carolina. She was a bright comet in all these places, unforgettable for her smile, her positive energy, and her willingness to drop anything for a friend. She brought pure sunshine to any room.

In 2000, at a New Year’s Eve party on Boston’s North Shore, sparks flew with the love of her life, her eventual husband and father of her children, Wat Tyler. Though they did not commit to one another that night, the light was on in both their hearts, and it was clear to all who saw them together, that they would find their way back to one another.

In 2012 Britten and Wat married. The wedding resulted in a dance party the likes of which The Country Club will forever be proud. Britten had a gift for bringing people together, and the wedding set off a decade of beautiful, fun parties, laughs and love for them and everyone lucky enough to know them. 

Britten gave birth to Wat Henry Tyler IV, in 2016. It was obvious to all, immediately, that motherhood, both to Watty and her beloved French Bulldog Chewy, was her truest gift in life. She was a natural. And it was in becoming a Mom that she was happiest. Her family settled into their dream home in Chestnut Hill in 2019, and in 2020 she was thrilled to announce that she and Wat were expecting a baby girl. Britten was never more fulfilled and filled with love than on January 23, 2021 when she gave birth to Lila Knauer Tyler.

Britten was preceded in death by her mother, Gynna Ames and stepfather Angier Ames. She is survived by her husband Wat Tyler III, son Wat Tyler IV, daughter Lila Tyler, father Richard Hartnett, step-mother Ann Hartnett, sister Taryn Hartnett, brother-in-law Avery Chapman, niece Gray Chapman, brother Willie Hartnett, sister-in-law Katy Hartnett, nephews Winfield and Fletcher Hartnett, step-brother Courtney Fawcett and his wife Heidi Fawcett, and countless friends and family. Services will be private for immediate family members with a celebration of life to be held, depending on Covid restrictions, in the summer of 2021.

In lieu of flowers or other gifts, please consider a donation to the Britten Hartnett Tyler Memorial Fund, managed by the Boston Foundation. Wat established this Memorial Fund to honor Britten’s memory and enable their children, Watty and Lila, and the rest of her family to honor Britten’s charitable soul and spirit of giving. The Memorial Fund will support the causes, communities and organizations that Britten cared about most and serve as a lasting tribute to her legacy of love, family and friendship.