Mary Elizabeth Mills

The family wishes to inform you of the passing of Mary Elizabeth Mills, daughter of Robert L. Mills and Kathleen Baldwin Mills; sister of William J. Mills II and Ann M. Burden.

Born on Shelter Island in 1920, Mary graduated from Greenport High School in 1938 and Syracuse University thereafter. With stints in sales at R.H. Macy’s on 34th St. in New York City and as a draftsperson for Western Electric, she then flew with United Airlines for 25 years as a flight attendant. She was especially proud of her military clearance, which allowed her to help transport troops to Japan and Okinawa during the Korean War and the Vietnam War.

Mary’s home base with United was San Francisco. After retiring from United, she purchased a home 15 miles south of San Francisco airport in an area now known as Silicone Valley, where she began another career as a real estate broker. Her success in real estate paralleled the rise of a new heretofore unheard-of development, created by filling mud flats in the San Francisco Back Bay. “Foster City,” named after its creator, now has over 80,000 inhabitants. Many can thank Mary for helping them buy a home in this “newly created” city, located literally “on the bay”; her reminder of Greenport, where she loved to sail.

Mary was interred in the family plot at Sterling Cemetery in Greenport in a private ceremony where she joined her parents and siblings.

The family requests a donation be made to The Island Gift of Life Foundation (Shelter Island) or Eastern Long Island Hospital in Greenport. Our best wishes to those still alive who knew her.

Eight bells and all is well.

This is a paid notice.