Remembering Great Aunt Milly
Mildred Shaw was born August 25, 1915, to Augustus and Carrie Nichols Haas. She graduated from Schuylerville High School in 1932 and later attended the Eastman School of Business in Saratoga Springs, where she trained as a stenotype operator. She married Robert B. Shaw on October 19, 1940.
Milly worked for 40 years as the office manager of the Schuylerville Wall Paper Company and United Board and Carton. She was also wonderfully creative and loved all kinds of crafts—sewing, crocheting, and especially fine rug hooking.
Great Aunt Milly was my Grandma Vi Peck’s sister. After we lost Grandma, Milly became the matriarch of our family. She was such an important part of our family reunions, picnics, celebrations, and get-togethers. I will always remember her wonderful smile, her laugh, and her genuine love for life.
And then there was her rug hooking.
Milly loved talking about her craft, and so many of us remember her mischievously introducing herself as a “hooker” just to see someone’s reaction. She knew exactly what she was doing—and she loved every minute of it! That sense of humor, followed by her wonderful laugh and smile, could fill a room.
My Uncle John, my dad’s oldest brother, took Milly out for breakfast or lunch every week. They would spend time riding the back roads, talking and sharing stories. My dad and my Uncles Joe and John were all blessed with that same storytelling gene. Because of them, so many stories about our family, our heritage, and what life was like generations ago have been passed down to us. What a gift that has been.
Milly never had children of her own, but she certainly had a family. She was loved and cared for by her many nieces and nephews—including my dad—and surrounded by generations of family who considered her an important part of their lives.
Her funeral and Celebration of Life brought together cousins, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, and extended family to say our final goodbye. Looking around at everyone gathered together was a reminder of how many lives this very special woman touched.
Milly was loving, strong, creative, optimistic, and full of life. I hope I can carry some of those qualities with me throughout my own life—the creativity, the caring, the strength, the laughter, and especially that wonderful zest for living.
These are some of the photos shared at her Celebration of Life. They tell pieces of her story, but they also tell the story of our family.
And for me, looking through them brings another wave of emotion.
I miss my dad every single day and celebrate his memory in so many ways. Whenever I am together with my Peck family, I think of him even more. I wish he were here to mingle with the cousins, tell his stories, laugh with everyone, and once again give me a hug, a kiss, and that familiar nod of his head in approval.
His face appears in so many of these photographs. Seeing him there makes me smile, but it also makes me wish with all my heart that he could be here on earth with us again.
I miss him so very much.
And as we remember Aunt Milly, I’m reminded again that the people we love remain part of us—in the stories we tell, the traditions we continue, the laughter we recognize, the photographs we treasure, and the love that connects one generation of a family to the next.
Great Aunt Milly will be deeply missed, but her spirit, her stories, her creativity, and that unforgettable smile will live on in our family for generations to come.
