MILDRED B (BLACKMAN) HUNTER

Mildred B Hunter died in the early morning hours on April 30, 2016 in Palmer MA. She was born in Worcester MA, the youngest child of Franklin and Gladys (Johnson) Blackman. She grew up in the Greendale area of Worcester and had many happy memories of visits to the Johnson family farm in North Grafton. She graduated from North High in Worcester and enrolled in Clark University, also in Worcester. She is predeceased by her parents and her siblings, Elizabeth (Betty) Parkin, Franklin Blackman and Alice Cooke and by her ex-husband, David N Cheever and husband Edward C Hunter, Sr. Her first marriage brought her to the Oakdale section of West Boylston where she managed a household of four young children while living in the basement of their future home, being built above them on weekends. She was an active church volunteer and a Girl Scout leader for many years. Her second marriage moved her to the Panama City area of Florida where she lived and worked for over thirty years. Her free time was spent enjoying pet ownership and learning to golf as well as in her life-long interests of keeping up with her children and grandchildren, executing fine needlework, solving word puzzles, and reading detective stories. When she returned to Massachusetts to live with Meg and Steve, first in Leicester and then in Ware, she delighted in the cats and dogs, all rescue animals that completed their household. She completed several counted cross-stitch pieces for each grandchild, including a birth sampler. She also found her time volunteering with the animals at Second Chance Animal Shelter very gratifying. Mildred was a church member and served on various committees in several congregations, including Greendale Peoples Church, Worcester MA, Oakdale United Methodist Church, West Boylston MA and Second Congregational Church, Palmer MA. She found great joy in several long friendships tended by letters and phone calls, especially that with Charlotte [Psota] Weyers of Polermo CA. Mildred is survived by her children, Carolyn Williams and wife Gail Martin of Natick, Richard Cheever and wife Mary of Carlisle, Ruth Garcia and husband Nelson of Gaithersburg MD and Meg Kiel and husband Steve of Ware, with whom she made her home for many years. She also leaves seven grandchildren and one great grandson: Jennifer Luksha of Sterling, Stephen Williams of Walpole, Susan Williams Thiell and her husband Benoit of Hamburg Germany, Nicholas Garcia of Belcamp MD, Bradley Garcia and his wife Alexis and son Lucas of Potomac MD, Elizabeth Cheever of Carlisle and Matthew Cheever of Carlisle. She is pre-deceased by her ex-husband, David N Cheever and husband Edward C Hunter, Sr. A Celebration of Life service will be held Saturday May 28, 2016 at 10am at the Second Congregational Church, 1080 Pleasant Street, Palmer MA 01069. In lieu of flowers, gifts in Mildred’s memory may be made to: Second Congregational Church, 1080 Pleasant Street, Palmer MA 01069 or the Second Chance Animal Shelter, 111 Young Road, East Brookfield MA 01515.