Mary Lee Bird Hathaway – First Lieutenant, United States Army Military-Political Spouse

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Mary Lee Bird Hathaway, 87, a nurse and the wife of former U.S. senator William D. Hathaway (D-Maine), died of congestive heart failure April 4, 2007, at Inova Fairfax Hospital. She lived in McLean, Virginia.

Mrs. Hathaway, a native of Horse Shoe, North Carolina, grew up in Akron, Ohio, after her family lost its farm during the Depression. She earned her registered nurse degree from Akron City Hospital in 1943 and the following year joined the Army Air Forces, serving in a hospital in San Antonio.

She became a flight nurse in 1945 and transferred to Mitchell Field on Long Island, New York, where she cared for wounded combat troops returning from overseas. She left the service in 1946 at the rank of First Lieutenant.

One of her patients from San Antonio became her husband, and they lived in Boston while Mrs. Hathaway attended Boston University. They moved to Lewiston, Maine, in 1953, and she worked there as a nurse. After her husband was elected to Congress in 1964, she devoted herself to his career and to raising their children.

She was an excellent bridge player who also loved to cook. She volunteered for a number of neighborhood projects in McLean, where the family lived.

In addition to her husband of 61 years, survivors include two children, Susan Hathaway Boydston of Cincinnati and Fred William Hathaway of Washington; and five grandchildren.

HATHAWAY, William Dodd, (1924 – )
Senate Years of Service: 1973-1979 Party: Democrat

HATHAWAY, William Dodd, a Representative and a Senator from Maine; born in Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, February 21, 1924; attended Boston public schools; served in the United States Army Air Corps 1942-1946, enlisted as a Private and discharged as a Captain; was shot down over Romania and held a prisoner of war for two months; graduated Harvard  University 1949, and Harvard Law School 1953; admitted to the bar in 1953
and began the practice of law in Lewiston, Maine; assistant county attorney, Androscoggin County 1955-1957; hearing examiner for the State  Liquor Commission 1957-1961; elected as a Democrat to the Eighty-ninth Congress; reelected to the three succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1965-January 3, 1973); was not a candidate for reelection, choosing instead to run for a Senate seat; elected in 1972 to the United States Senate, and served from January 3, 1973, to January 2, 1979; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1978; resumed the practice of law in Washington, D.C., until 1990, when appointed to the Federal Maritime  Commission by President George H.W. Bush and served until 1996, serving as chairman 1993-1996; retired in 1996; is a resident of McLean, Virginia.

MARY B. HATHAWAY

On Wednesday, April 4, 2007, MARY B. HATHAWAY of McLean, Virginia; beloved wife of former U.S. Senator William D. Hathaway of Maine; mother of Dr. Susan H. (Richard) Boydston and Fred W. (Lee B.) Hathaway; grandmother of Britton, Ensign Edward, U.S. Navy and Alec Boydston and William and Ben Hathaway.

 Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, May 29 at 9 a.m. at the Fort Myer Old Post Chapel, Fort Myer, Virginia. Interment Arlington National Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, family requests contributions to INOVA Fairfax Hospital Box 7081, Merrifield, Virginia 22116.

HATHAWAY, MARY L

  • 1STLT   US ARMY
  • WORLD WAR II
  • DATE OF BIRTH: 02/23/1920
  • DATE OF DEATH: 04/04/2007
  • BURIED AT: SECTION 60  SITE 558
    ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

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