Maude Miller Pettus went home to be with the Lord at her home in Stamford on April 22 at the age of 103. She was a very special woman, marked by God, who had a deep well of wisdom, a great sense of intuition, and lived a full, joyful life.
Maude Pettus, 103, passed away on April 22. Her funeral is scheduled for Saturday, April 29.
Maude was born in Springs, Pa. on April 7, 1914, and received her nursing degree from Capital City School of Nursing in Washington, DC in 1936.
During her training, she met a Yale medical school student William Winston Pettus, whom she married on June 23, 1937. After graduation Maudie worked in the Neurological Surgery Department at New York Presbyterian Hospital while Win did his residency there. In 1940 they began serving as a surgical team in Changsha, China at a hospital founded by Yale University.
Shortly after the birth of their two daughters, Ann and Sally, Win was tragically killed in a plane crash on Nov. 18, 1945, in China. Following the death of her husband, Maude received her PHN degree at UCLA in 1948. She had a second career as a school nurse at the Beverly Hills Unified School District until her retirement in 1984. Maude moved to Stamford in 1986, where she worked in home healthcare to the elderly.
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— an obituary from Edward Lawrence Funeral Home
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As the daughter of a Mennonite minister, her faith was always very important to her. Maude belonged to the Noroton Presbyterian Church, where she was a member of the Tuesday Morning Bible Study, the Prime Timers Senior Fellowship and the Flower Team. She will be remembered especially for her contagious joy, her deep faith, her caring spirit, and her persevering resiliency as she faced the many trying circumstances of her life.
Toward the end of her life Maudie returned to China to celebrate her 100th birthday with friends at Yale-China in 2014, and again in 2015 as a guest of the Chinese government.
Maude was predeceased by her parents Rev. Ed and Annie Miller, her brothers and sisters Edith (Miller) Lautenschlager, Clark Miller, Curtis Miller, Elva (Miller) Phillips, and Daniel Miller, her loving husband, William Winston Pettus, and her daughter Sally Pettus.
She is survived by her daughter Ann (Pettus) Mattina of Stamford, grandchildren Laura Mattina Gordon, James Mattina, Philip Mattina, and Christopher Mattina; great grandchildren Christine Clark, Brittany Clark, Brookelynn Nielson, Breanne Nielson, Rachel Johnson, Jacob Gordon, Justin James Mattina, Taylor Ann Mattina, Hope Natalie Mattina, Reed Winston Mattina and numerous nieces and nephews.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m., Saturday, June 17, 2017 at the Noroton Presbyterian Church. Contributions in memory of Maudie Pettus may be made to the Noroton Presbyterian Church, 2011 Post Road, Darien, CT 06820.