Obituary of Mildred Miller Mele
Mildred (Millie) Miller Mele, Parker, Colorado
Died at the age of 91 on Wednesday, May 9, 2018
Millie was born January 4, 1927 in Provo, Utah to Elmer and Rosella Miller. She had four other siblings: Merline, Lowell, Dorothy and Anna Lou. Merline, Lowell and Dorothy proceeded Millie in death. Anna Lou, the youngest sibling, is still living in Texas.
Millie enjoyed growing up in Utah. Her father was the Head of the Economics Department at Brigham Young University. Many of her friends were gals whose fathers also worked at BYU and they attend Brigham Young High School together.
Millie attended BYU as a Drama Major and also obtained a Teaching Certificate. During her college breaks, she worked at the Grand Canyon and enjoyed that. Millie graduated in 1949.
After graduating Millie taught school for a bit but the call of the “Friendly Skies of United” was too strong. Her first choice was to fly out of Los Angeles but she was sent to her second choice, New York City. Millie met her husband, Vincent Mele at United Airlines and married, June 26, 1954. Three children quickly followed whom she was very proud of: Diana Leiter (Scott), Douglas Mele and Wendy Mele Stofa (Frank).
She was lucky to have four grandchildren that she so enjoyed and was very active in all of their lives. Christopher (Rachelle), Patrick (Amy), Lynsey (Jake) and Nicholas. Millie was the primary babysitter and would fly in to help whenever needed. All the kids in Diana’s neighborhood in American Fork knew Grandma Mele! She also had eight Great-Grandchildren: Natalie, Rebecca, Kelsie, Julia, Avery, Brooklynn, Blake and Alice! Millie was lucky to get to travel not that long ago and meet them all.
After teaching and her time as a stewardess, Millie went into retail and loved selling makeup and perfume at the fine department stores of the day: “The Denver Dry Goods” and Robinson-May. She worked first in the Denver area and then finally made it out to Southern California which was always her dream. Millie loved the beach and sunny weather and sun-bathing and swimming were always her favorites.
As Millie ended up in Colorado in her later years, she enjoyed spending much time with her son Doug who would come down from Vail to visit and assist Millie and was primary in managing the excellent care she had in her later years. She also lived near her grandson, Nicholas, who she was able to see grow up. Millie spent her last twenty years basking in the sun at the Stroh Ranch Pool where she was an institution. Her bright blue car would always be parked in the same spot and she tried to never miss a day all summer. Millie enjoyed the swim class at Stroh and all the fun girls there over the years as well as the Parker Newcomers that she loved so much. Millie passed peacefully after a very full 91 years!
Millie will be buried in the American Fork, Utah cemetery.
The funeral will be held at:
Anderson & Sons Mortuary
Lone Peak Chapel
6141 West 11000 North
Highland, UT. 84003
at 11:00 am on Saturday May 19, 2018.
There will be a viewing
Friday night, May 18, 2018 from 6:00pm-8:00pm
and Saturday morning 9:45am-10:45am
All at the Anderson & Sons Mortuary, Lone Peak Chapel.
The family asks if anyone would like, please donate to :
Porter Hospice Foundation
on behalf of Mildred Mele
5020 E. Arapahoe Rd.
Centennial, CO. 80122
A Celebrations of Life-Open House-will be held at
Heritage Eagle Bend Golf Club,
Humboldt Rm 23155 E. Heritage Parkway, Aurora, CO. on
Wednesday, June 6th
4:30-6:30pm
