Mildred A. Wiest, a retired Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Co. operator, died Aug. 24 of heart failure at her Essex home.
She was 101.
The daughter of a fertilizer company worker and a homemaker, Mildred Hesse was born in Baltimore and moved with her family in the early 1920s to Crisfield, where she graduated from high school.
She later moved to Highlandtown and went to work as an operator for C&P Telephone Co. in the 1920s, and eventually was promoted to chief operator in Essex. After the exchange was automated, she moved to Towson, where she remained until retiring in 1965.
She was an active member of the Telephone Pioneers of America.
An Essex resident for nearly 80 years, she had been married to Joseph W. Wiest, a Bethlehem Steel Corp. steelworker, for more than 55 years. He died in 1982.
Mrs. Wiest liked to prepare German cuisine and entertain family and friends. She also liked to travel and work in ceramics.
She was a communicant of St. Rita Roman Catholic Church.
Graveside services were held Aug. 26 at Sacred Heart of Jesus Cemetery in Dundalk.
Surviving are many nieces and nephews.
—Frederick N. Rasmussen