Florence R Mullen

PORTLAND – Florence Roseanna Mullen died peacefully in her sleep on December 10. Flo was born in New York City in 1919 to Walter Hewitt and Mary Ann Davis Hewitt, immigrants from, respectively, England and Ireland.

It is only on death that most of us have our life story told. Flo, so generous of spirit herself, would likely want to see this opportunity taken to recognize the kindness and generosity of those who made a real difference in the course of her life. Toward that end, the following pieces of her life are shared.

Flo’s parents, each having come through Ellis Island in search of a better life, met at work – her father was a footman and her mother a kitchen worker in the home of Mrs. Bettie Fleischmann Holmes. Flo’s father died when she and her two siblings were very young, leaving their mother with no way to care for the children and no work to support them. Mrs. Holmes, having been very fond of the family, paid off the mortgage on their modest house in Queens Village and continued to pay Flo’s mother her husband’s monthly salary, averting an otherwise inevitable break-up of the family.

In her early 30s, a courageous Flo left a troubled marriage to raise her daughter on her own – a very difficult choice for a devout Irish Catholic. It was only with the help of a former neighbor, Hazel Moore, who was struggling to raise her three children on her own in Florida, that Flo was able to bring her young daughter home from a developing parental abduction. The death of her mother left Flo with a ten-year-old with no after-school care – until a classmate’s mother, Margaret Dempsey, insisted that Flo’s daughter join her then four children for lunch each day and until Flo got home from work each evening.

Flo’s brother-in-law, Bill Good, convinced her to leave a job closer to home and her young child and take a more secure job an hour’s commute away at The New York Times, where she worked for 25 years, and from which she was retired for 27 years. In all that time, the Times honored its commitment with respect to pension payments and coverage of health insurance premiums.

On her retirement, Flo, a life-long New York apartment dweller, bought her first house in Lake Carmel, New York, to be near her daughter. After 35 years of climbing subway stairs and working long hours, she wanted only “to sit and watch soap operas and eat bonbons.” She did that and much more with friends she made there, Kathleen Reuter and Noel Keating, who took Flo, a consummate city pedestrian who never learned to drive, on endless adventures from the Berkshires to Cold Spring.

When Flo became non-ambulatory in her late eighties, she moved with her daughter and long-time friend, Susan Garfield, to Portland – a move skillfully guided in every possible respect by geriatric care manager Paula Banks. And she was taken care of at home by many wonderful aides, most especially, Regina, Navy, Amy, and Allison, whose dedication – along with that of nurse neighbor Diane DiConzo – enabled her to stay at home for nearly five years. Her last year was spent at The Cedars, where aides and nurses, therapists, care coordinators, administrative staff, volunteers, and residents themselves perform wonders every day. Her roommate Lillian took very special care of Flo as she met her final challenge of living meaningfully with dementia.

Flo was predeceased by her sister, Marion Good, and her brother, Walter Hewitt. She is survived by her daughter, Lynda; by her nieces and nephews and their families, who lovingly plied their Aunt Flo with family news and mementos during her time at The Cedars: Joan Barrett of Maineville, Ohio; Patricia Bond of Scottsdale, Arizona; William Good, Jr., of East Hampton, New York; Peter Good of Unionville, Connecticut; Dennis Good of Woodbury, Connecticut; and Theresa Stewart of Stafford, Virginia; and by Susan Garfield, without whose constant help Flo’s final five years at home would not have been possible.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Wednesday, December 14, 2011 at 11 am St. Pius Church, 492 Ocean Ave, Portland. Interment will follow at Calvary Cemetery in South Portland.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a special act of kindness in Flo’s memory.

Arrangements are under the care of Jones, Rich & Hutchins Funeral Home 199 Woodford St. Portland, Me 04103

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