Mary Stoughton (Olds) Hartman

Mary Hartman

Mary Stoughton (Olds) Hartman, formerly of Mystic, died February 12, 2018 at the age of 97 in Lancaster, PA. To the end of her days, she maintained her marvelous wit and sense of humor.

She was born on December 2, 1920, in Englewood, New Jersey, the daughter of Edward Allen Olds Jr. and Edith Jane (Mitchell) Olds. She was descended from Robert Olds, who emigrated from England to Connecticut in 1667.

Her paternal grandfather Edward Allen Olds became a soap manufacturer and owned Mystic’s noted Packer’s Tar Soap Company, a business carried on by her father, who relocated the family to Mystic in the 1930s. Her maternal grandfather, Archibald Mitchell, emigrated from County Fife, Scotland, in 1869, and learned the dry goods business in Norwich, where he settled. His department store had branches in Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, and Indiana. An avid fly fisherman, he invented the Mitchell salmon fly and established Runnymede Lodge for fishing in New Brunswick, Canada. 

Mary attended the Dwight School in Englewood, New Jersey, graduating in 1940, and then entered the Rhode Island School of Design. Her studies ended when she married William Davies Hartman at Mystic on June 12, 1943. During their 55 years of marriage, they lived in Hartford and Mystic. They traveled widely and made many summer cruises on their boat, Little Bear. Mary also volunteered at the Westerly Hospital Gift Shop for many years. She was an active member of the Mystic Congregational Church.

She was predeceased by her parents; her brothers Edward Allen Olds III, David K. Olds, and Gordon M. Olds; and her husband, who died in 1998. She is survived by her nieces Barbara (Olds) Haldeman, Isabel (Olds) McIver, Iva Jane Campbell; her nephew Gordon Mitchell Olds; and numerous great-nieces and nephews and great-great-nieces and nephews.

With characteristic modesty, Mary considered herself “a person of few talents and many blessings.” A friend’s singing teacher had told her she had no talent, and she decided to agree, as the teacher happened to be Frank Sinatra (prior to his fame).

Looking back on a long and happy life, Mary commented: “If you can, remember me, once in a while, with a smile—that’s just right. Now I’m ready to move on.”

A funeral service will be conducted at the Mystic Congregational Church (UCC), 43 East Main Street, Mystic, CT 06355 on Sunday, April 8, 2018 at 2 PM. Burial will be in the Elm Grove Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Mystic Congregational Church or the Mystic and Noank Library.

For obituary information or to send an online condolence to the family, please visit Miller-Finkenbinder Funeral Home and Crematory: www.millerfuneralhome.com

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