Mrs. Mildred S. Kington

In lieu flowers Donation In Memory of Mildred S. Kington to Robert and Laura Shavers Scholarship Fund Fisk University www.fisk.edu/onlinegiving/giving.html Mail to: Fisk University, Office of Institutional Advancement, Cravath Hall, 1000 17th Ave. North, Nashville, TN 37208 Donation In Memory of Mildred S. Kington to Scholarship Fund In Memory of Mildred Shavers Kington Wayne State University College of Education Mail to: Wayne State University, Office of University Development, Beecher House, 5475 Woodward Ave., Detroit, MI 48202 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mildred Estelle Shavers Kington of Baltimore, Maryland, passed away peacefully at home of natural causes, surrounded by her family, on February 20, 2012. She was born on May 19, 1923, in DeKalb, Texas, the tenth child of eleven born to Robert and Laura Shavers in the Garland Community outside of DeKalb. She was born a fourth-generation Texan in a community founded by freed slaves after the Civil War. Both of her parents were the children of slaves and were each the first in their families to attend college, and they later taught in the DeKalb area. Mildred was educated at the Garland Community School until high school, graduated from Texarkana High School in 1940, and then attended what is now Huston-Tillotson University in Austin, Texas. There, she was an active member of the college’s basketball team. After interrupting her college education to work at defense plants in both Texas and Detroit during World War II, she transferred to Wayne State University’s School of Education in Detroit and graduated in 1949 with a concentration in Home Economics. After graduation, she returned to college to attend Michigan State University, where she obtained a second concentration in Early Childhood Education. She later taught home economics and special education in public schools in Jackson, Michigan; Staten Island and Harlem, New York City; and Baltimore, Maryland. She married Dr. Garfield D. Kington, whose classmate in medical school had married one of her sisters, and they settled in Baltimore in 1958. She left her teaching career to raise her five children, but remained deeply involved in the community. She helped establish and run community centers and summer camps and was very active in political and civic affairs. She was the founding president of the Committee for the Preservation of Orchard Street Church, which was part of the Underground Railroad and is now home of the Baltimore Urban League. And for more than twenty years she served on the board of Garrison Boulevard United Methodist Church, a predecessor to Gwynn Oak United Methodist Church. In addition to her husband, she is survived by her five children: Gregory A. Kington and his wife, Linda Bernard, of Los Altos, California; Gail Kington Lloyd of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Douglas R. Kington and his partner Wendy L. Blair of Baltimore, Maryland; Dr. Raynard S. Kington and his spouse Dr. Peter T. Daniolos of Grinnell, Iowa; and Emerson A. Kington and his partner Rev. Albert Whitaker of Boston, Massachusetts; and five grandchildren: Justin Lloyd of Atlanta, Georgia; Jonathan Lloyd of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Alexis G. Kington of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Emerson D. and Basil Garland Daniolos Kington of Grinnell, Iowa. She is also survived by: twin sister Mrs. Myrtle S. Downs of Detroit, Michigan; two other sisters, Mrs. Genevieve Benton of DeKalb,Texas, and Mrs. Mattie Johnson of Nashville, Tennessee; and one brother, Lt. Col. (Ret.) Iverson Shavers of DeKalb, Texas; and numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins.

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Mrs. Mildred S. Kington

May 19, 1923 - February 20, 2012