Mildred L. Pettit, a retired cosmetologist who aided her husband in his Harford County civil rights work, died Friday at Manor Care Health Services Roland Park of undetermined causes. She was 89.
"We are waiting for the results of an autopsy because she died so quickly," said her son, Alvin Dwight Pettit, a Baltimore attorney and author.
The daughter of Garland Miller, a handyman, and Hattie Forney Miller, a homemaker, Mildred Louise Miller, one of 11 children, was born and raised in Rutherfordton, N.C., where she graduated from public schools.
She left her hometown and lived with sisters in Summit, N.J., and Philadelphia before her 1943 marriage to George David Pettit, an electrical engineer and scientist, who taught at North Carolina Central College in Durham.
After graduating from the Apex Beauty School in Greensboro, Mrs. Pettit became a licensed cosmetologist and established a beauty salon in Greensboro.
In the early 1950s, the couple and their son moved to Dundalk and then to Turners Station, where she opened a beauty salon on Main Street. Her husband worked at Fort Holabird.
In 1958, they moved to Aberdeen, where she operated a salon from her home, and her husband took a position at Aberdeen Proving Ground as a human factor engineer and scientist.
"The ladies of Bennett College, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, both in Greensboro, Turners Station and Aberdeen, often praised and appreciated her talent for hairdressing, and the enjoyable beauty shop chats they engaged in with one another," her son said.
Mrs. Pettit, who lived in Perryman, retired about 15 years ago, her son said.
After moving to Aberdeen, her husband became active in the civil rights movement and served as vice president of the Harford County branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
In the late 1950s, Mr. Pettit sued the Harford County school board to gain admission for his son to Aberdeen High school and bring an end to segregated county schools.
"We lived in a home at Aberdeen Proving Ground, and because of his civil rights activities, we were kicked off the base and had to find another home," said Mr.Pettit the son. "I don't know how they found the money, but I was sent each weekend to Baltimore, where I attended Lemmel Junior High School during the week."
Mr. Pettit was admitted to Aberdeen High School in 1960.
"I was the first black on the football, baseball and basketball teams," he recalled.
"During the March on Washington in 1963, my parents set up a lemonade and sandwich stand on Route 40 with a sign that said, 'Food, Refreshments, Lemonade,' and my mother made all of the sandwiches," he said. "The buses would stop, and my parents would feed the demonstrators."
Mr. Pettit recalled the difficulties of those years.
"She was always in the background and supported my father and his civil rights work. She is an unsung hero. Her name was never in the newspaper," said Mr. Pettit. "She was a very strong woman and the glue and support that held our family together through many tough times."
The elder Mr. Pettit won $60,000 in back pay for having been denied timely promotions at Aberdeen Proving Ground in a 1973 case in which he was represented by his son before the U.S. Court of Claims, which ordered that he be promoted.
He died in 1992.
Mrs. Pettit, who was known as "Henry," enjoyed gardening, playing the lottery — "when she felt lucky," her son said — and entertaining family and friends.
Mrs. Pettit had a reputation as a good cook, her son said.
"My dad liked her meatloaf, chicken stew and biscuits, and string beans," said her son.
Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at the William C. Brown Community Funeral Home, 321 S. Philadelphia Blvd., Aberdeen.
Mrs. Pettit, who outlived her 10 siblings, is survived by her son; two grandchildren; a great-granddaughter; and many nieces and nephews.