Mildred English Obituary

Mildred Elizabeth English, age undisclosed per her long-held belief that "if a woman tells you her age, she'll tell you anything," died Friday, August 23, 2019. The daughter of the late Dewey and Helen English, she was preceded in death by her brother, Dewey "Weesie" English, Jr. She is survived by her sister-in-law Doris English, nephew David English and wife Susan Radford, all of Monroe; niece Beth English and husband Mark Donato of Nantucket, Massachusetts; great-niece Grace Pressley of Charlotte; cousins Cecil English, Bill English, Everette English, Jr., and Florence Kendall. She is also dearly missed by her best friend, Celia Laney.

After graduating from Monroe High School, Mildred, or "Mille" as her family and friends called her, moved to Virginia and received a Bachelor of Science in Business at Richmond Professional Institute of the College of William and Mary (now Virginia Commonwealth University.) She then earned a Master of Arts in Student Personnel at Syracuse University. Mille was selected as one of fifty educators in the United States to participate in graduate study in the first NDEA Institute for College Student Personnel Workers at Michigan State University.

While working on her masters at Syracuse, Mille received recruitment letters from colleges and universities all over the southeast, but as she had no interest in being a bookkeeper or housemother (her declination letters are delightful!) she accepted the Bursar position at Averett College in Danville, Virginia. During this time, Mille fortuitously met and was recruited by Miss Bonnie Cone, founder of UNC-Charlotte (then known as Charlotte College) to be the college's first full-time administrator. She wore many hats at UNCC including Business Manager, Bookstore Manager, Foreign Student Advisor, Placement Officer, and Cheerleading Advisor, retiring in 1989 as Director of Placement Services. Her family found hundreds of thank you letters from students whom Mille helped attain jobs post-graduation.

No obituary for Mille would be complete without mentioning her love of sports. She had undying loyalty to Charlotte 49er men's basketball, where over the course of fifty plus years she only missed one home game, never missed a conference tournament, and traveled with friends to many away games. Mille had legendarily high standards and did not hesitate to fire off a letter to then-Head Coach Jeff Mullins when she thought 49er fans were showing poor sportsmanship by turning their backs and reading pretend newspapers when the opposing team was being introduced. We are not sure how Coach Mullins handled her suggestion that he encourage fans to display "positive cheering, enthusiasm, and noisy support with a few boos every now and then for bad calls." When UNCC established a football team she was one of the first in line to buy her personal seat license. Mille was a charter Panthers PSL owner and took her nephew David to the Super Bowl in 2004, where she ran rings around him despite being four decades older. Mille made it almost twenty years before missing her first Panthers home game when she was hospitalized with pneumonia. That same season she started a new streak after checking out of a rehab facility to go directly to the stadium for a playoff game. She also had Hornets season tickets and when she could not attend she would donate her seats to the Police Activities League.

Although sports occupied the number one spot, Mille had many other interests and passions over her lifetime including world travel, fly fishing, bowling, baking, crafting and needlework. She was a fifty-year member of Altrusa International Club of Charlotte, a non-profit organization focused on creating better communities, as well as a longtime member of the Embroiderers' Guild of America. Mille received many awards and honors, such as being selected as one of Charlotte's 10 Outstanding Career Women in 1973, but she was perhaps most proud to have received the Alumni of Choice award at UNCC in 2005.

Mildred English never married despite the proposal of at least one suitor, was fiercely independent (which is probably why she declined) and lived her life completely on her own terms. She will be missed by her family, friends from UNCC and Altrusa, neighbors at Country Club Arms, and her seatmates at Bank of America stadium. The family will receive friends at Gordon Funeral Service and Crematory, 1904 Lancaster Ave., Monroe, on September 15 from 3:00-5:00. A private family burial will follow at Monroe City Cemetery. In lieu of flowers the family requests donations be made to the Charlotte 49ers Athletic Foundation, with The Mildred English Student Athlete Scholarship in the memo line.

Online condolences can be made at www.gordonfuneralservice.com. Gordon Funeral Service & Crematory is caring for the English family, 1904 Lancaster Ave., Monroe, NC 28112.