Charlotte Elizabeth Leavitt was a graduate of Mount Holyoke College born to American missionary parents in Osaka, Japan. Charlotte Leavitt was a college classmate and lifelong friend of Frances Perkins, the first woman appointed to a Presidential Cabinet.

Charlotte was a teacher from 1902-1904 in Newark NJ. She was president of the Mount Holyoke College Alumnae Association from 1915-1920 and an alumna trustee from 1921-1927.

Charlotte Leavitt's son, Roswell Leavitt Gilpatric (November 4, 1906 – March 15, 1996), was a prominent New York City corporate attorney and government official who served as Deputy Secretary of Defense from 1961–64, when he played a pivotal role in the high-stake strategies of the Cuban Missile Crisis, advising President John F. Kennedy as well as Robert McNamara and McGeorge Bundy on dealing with the Russian nuclear missile threat. Gilpatric later served as Chairman of the Task Force on Nuclear Proliferation in 1964. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roswell_Gilpatric