Mildred Atkinson, a housing and civil rights advocate who hosted a long-running holiday party, died Dec.13 at her granddaughter's Woodbine home. The former Bolton Hill resident was 105.
Born in Baltimore on April 26, 1909, she was the daughter of Logan Dyke, a steel erecting contractor, and the former Grace Jones, a homemaker and beauty shop owner. She attended Forest Park High School and also took courses at Strayer Business School.
At the age of 15, she eloped to Elkton with Jack C. Maitland, who worked in construction with her father. She divorced in 1933 after the birth of her two sons.
"One day, while working as a bookkeeper for the Community Laundry, Mildred met a handsome gentleman who came to collect building rents for his employer. This was the beginning of a long, loving and remarkable relationship between Mildred and Edward Albert Atkinson Jr.," said her granddaughter Pamela Wright, with whom she lived.
"She was a remarkable woman who was vitally interested in people and issues," said former state Sen. Julian L. Lapides, a neighbor. "She truly believed in Baltimore and its neighborhoods."
In the 1940s she became interested in public policy issues and joined the Citizens Planning and Housing Association. She became its field secretary and attended Housing Court sessions twice weekly, beginning July 17, 1947. She worked closely with the Baltimore Police Department, whose members then enforced the housing code.
In 1950, she announced in a Baltimore Sun news report that 4,604 outhouse toilets had been removed in the past 30 months.
The Police Department awarded her an honorary sergeant's badge. In a 1948 Sun article, Judge Harry S. Kruger said, "This young lady had devoted more time and energy to slum clearance and the correction of unsanitary conditions than any other person in the city."
"No grim-visioned scourge of unrightiousness, she is, rather, motivated by compassion," said a 1949 profile in The Sun. "Some people think the reason she gets so much done is her sincerity and drive."
From 1951 to 1971, Mrs. Atkinson worked as the director of Christian social relations for the Maryland Council of Churches. Among her duties, she testified at the State House against Southern Maryland slot machines.
She worked alongside Furman Templeton, who headed the Baltimore Urban League, to open local restaurants to African-Americans.
In March 1960, she accompanied students who had taken buses from what is now Morgan State University for demonstrations at segregated downtown department stores. That day, executives at the old Hochschild-Kohn store announced that all persons, regardless of color, would be welcomed at its restaurants.
"Mildred Atkinson recalled how surprised they were to be served," wrote Barbara Mills in her 2002 book, "Got My Mind Set on Freedom." "Not expecting it, she was almost the only one with any money." Mrs. Atkinson went from table to table in the tearoom and gave the students money to pay for their meals.
In 1965 she worked to charter planes for flights to Selma, Ala., for those active in the civil rights movement.
Shortly after her marriage in 1935, she and her husband began a tradition that stretched for decades, hosting an annual Dec. 23 party at their home in the 1700 block of Bolton St.
"Crowds of hundreds tried to squeeze into that house," said Larry Lower, a former neighbor, who lives in Berkeley Springs, W.Va. "She knew everybody and loved everybody. She was outgoing and welcoming. She was curious too. It was a delight to be around her. You were the focus of her attention."
Mr. Lower said she would not tolerate intolerance, whether toward African-Americans, Jews, gay men or gay women. He said that if she encountered a biased conversation at a social gathering, she challenged the speaker on the spot.
"When she was 99, Mildred Atkinson figured maybe she was getting a little too old to party," said an article in The Sun. "She had been hostess to what was surely Baltimore's oldest private party, a Christmas gathering that had drawn U.S. senators and other notables to her Bolton Hill rowhouse."
Mrs. Atkinson sent letters saying she would not have the party.
As she turned 100 in 2009, "About 100 people, including former Sen. Paul Sarbanes, turned out to celebrate at the home of neurosurgeon Neal Naff. Atkinson had such a good time that she's thinking maybe, just maybe, she'll revive the party this Christmas," The Sun said.
A time of "sharing and celebration" will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Slack Funeral Home, 3871 Old Columbia Pike, Ellicott City.
In addition to her granddaughter, survivors include two sisters, Evelyn Schroedl of Parkville and Virginia Jaeger of Federalsburg; six other grandchildren; 18 great-grandchildren; and nine great-great-grandchildren. Her husband of 49 years died in 1984. A son, John Carpenter Maitland Jr., died in 2006. Another son Dennis L. Maitland, died in 2011.