![]() Mary Lee Bird Hathaway First Lieutenant, United States Army Military-Political Spouse |
![]() |
Mary
Lee Bird Hathaway, 87, a nurse and the wife of former U.S. senator William
D. Hathaway (D-Maine), died of congestive heart failure April 4, 2007,
at Inova Fairfax Hospital. She lived in McLean, Virginia.
Mrs. Hathaway, a native of Horse Shoe, North Carolina, grew up in Akron, Ohio, after her family lost its farm during the Depression. She earned her registered nurse degree from Akron City Hospital in 1943 and the following year joined the Army Air Forces, serving in a hospital in San Antonio. She became a flight nurse in 1945 and transferred to Mitchell Field on Long Island, New York, where she cared for wounded combat troops returning from overseas. She left the service in 1946 at the rank of First Lieutenant. One of her patients from San Antonio became her husband, and they lived in Boston while Mrs. Hathaway attended Boston University. They moved to Lewiston, Maine, in 1953, and she worked there as a nurse. After her husband was elected to Congress in 1964, she devoted herself to his career and to raising their children. She was an excellent bridge player who also loved to cook. She volunteered for a number of neighborhood projects in McLean, where the family lived. In addition to her husband of 61 years, survivors
include two children, Susan Hathaway Boydston of Cincinnati and Fred William
Hathaway of Washington; and five grandchildren.
Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, May 29 at 9 a.m. at the Fort Myer Old Post Chapel, Fort Myer, Virginia. Interment Arlington National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, family requests contributions
to INOVA Fairfax Hospital Box 7081, Merrifield, Virginia 22116.
|
![]() |