Whether she was on her way to work at the local dime store, visiting friends or heading to the bowling alley, Mildred Lightell knew how to get where she wanted to go.
She was adept at navigating public transportation, but by and large, her feet carried her. “Until she was 91, she was walking 2 miles a day,” said her son Robert.
Mrs. Lightell often strolled the length of the main strip in her hometown of Forest Park, chatting with old friends whose businesses lined the street.
“She sort of wound up being the ambassador for Madison Street,” said her son Kenneth.
Mrs. Lightell, who lived most of her 92 years in Forest Park, died Wednesday, June 28, in Holland Home retirement community in South Holland.
She was born in west suburban Forest Park in 1913, one of three children of German-speaking immigrants from Austria-Hungary. As a teen, Mrs. Lightell loved swimming and was on the synchronized swim team at Proviso East High School.
She also loved bowling, a pastime she would continue into her late 80s.
“In her last year of bowling, her average was probably around 140,” her son Robert said. “The team she bowled with loved her because she was just a kind and warm kind of person.”
Mrs. Lightell met her husband, Ray, at the Circle Bowling Lanes in Forest Park, and the couple married in 1942. Her husband died in 1972.
In the mid-1950s, when her boys were older, Mrs. Lightell decided she wanted to work, though her husband frowned upon it. She found a job at the local Ben Franklin store, working the cash register and other jobs there until her late 70s.
“Everybody knew her because she worked at the dime store,” her son Robert said.
Mrs. Lightell took an active role in her sons’ activities, including being a Cub Scout den mother. She also encouraged them to try music and sports, and was a member of the parent-teacher associations at their schools.
She was an accomplished baker, and friends and family eagerly awaited the winter holidays when she would make baked goods to send as gifts.
“She never had much money, so she couldn’t buy gifts, but she would make cookies and fruitcake for everyone,” her son Kenneth said. “Nobody likes fruitcake, but everyone loved hers.”
The most important lesson she taught her sons was how to treat others with respect, her son Robert said.
“My earliest understanding of race and the equality of people came from her,” he said. “If she saw something going on around her that wasn’t right, she was going to make sure her sons knew it was wrong.”
Mrs. Lightell is also survived by her stepson, Charles; three grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
Services have been held.
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alwang@tribune.com
