News

Mary Louise Miller Mayhew

Mary Louise Miller Mayhew

1922-2021

Mary Louise “Mary Lou” Miller Mayhew, 99, of Fairview, North Carolina, passed away peacefully at the Memorial Campus of Mission Hospital on July 29, 2021. Her daughter Kathy was with her at the end.

Mary Lou was born on July 2, 1922, to Eugene P. Miller and Mary C. Young Miller in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia.

Mary is preceded in death by her spouse, Robert W. Mayhew and her son, Michael K. Mayhew.

Mary is survived by her son, Christopher A. Mayhew and spouse, Peggy Mayhew, of Oakton, Virginia; daughter, Kathlyn A. Mayhew and spouse John Worley, of Fairview, North Carolina; twelve grandchildren; and thirteen great-grandchildren.

Mary Lou’s family owned one of the town’s two drug stores and were prominent fixtures in the town’s social circles.

After graduating from High School in 1940 she worked for the town’s prosecutor. In 1945, she applied and secured a position in the Foreign Service Division of the Department of State. She was assigned to Frankfurt, Germany in early 1946 as part of the first wave of Foreign Service Officers brought over to operate the U.S. Consulates after the end of WWII. Her duties at the Consulate included interviewing refugees and granting Visas for immigration to the United States. During this time, she assisted in the relocation of refugees from concentration camps and the detection and exposure of former Nazis trying to escape Germany using forged documents.

In 1946, she met Robert (Bob) W. Mayhew, a U.S. Army Officer who later became a case officer for the Central Intelligence Agency. They were married in Frankfurt, Germany in 1948. Their life together was in the service of their country on the front lines of the Cold War. Their assignments in Germany took them to Frankfurt, Berlin, Bonn and then Den Haag, Netherlands. In between keeping the Russians at bay, they managed to raise three children, Michael, Kathy and Chris.

Mary Lou and Bob retired to Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1977, where they lived for 36 years before moving to Ashville, NC to spend their later years with their daughter Kathy and her husband John. Mary Lou lost her son Michael to cancer in February and husband Bob in April 2020. On July 3, 2021, Mary Lou celebrated her 99th birthday with a large group of her family and friends.

A service will be held and officiated by Rev. J. Clarkson at the Calvary Episcopal Church of Fletcher, North Carolina on August 14, 2021, at 3 p.m.. A burial will take place at a later date at the Santa Fe National Cemetery in New Mexico.

Memorials can be made to the Calvary Episcopal Church in Fletcher, North Carolina, or to Holy Family Episcopal Church in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Condolences can be made to the family at ashevilleareaalternative.com.

Facebook

Weather

BERKELEY SPRINGS WEATHER