Mildred Barron, 87, retired typist for federal agencies
She loved playing cards at church and watching basketball.
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GROWING UP IN South Philadelphia, Mildred Millicent Banks Hanton Barron had a best friend in her younger sister, Geraldine.
The two were the third and fourth of six children born to Wilbert Banks and Maggie Cooper Banks.
"They always shared each other's secrets," Barron's daughter Geraldine Barnes said. "They were very close."
Mildred Barron and Geraldine Banks Tippin were born just 10 months apart. They died last month just eight days apart.
Barron had moved from her South Philadelphia home in September to live with her daughter in Bear, Del.
Barron, 87, known as "Milly" to family and friends, died Jan. 30 after she collapsed at home.
"We were getting dressed to go to the funeral for my aunt when she just passed out," said Barnes, Barron's only child, named after her aunt Geraldine Tippin.
Tippin, 87, had died of Alzheimer's disease Jan. 22. She had spent 30 years as an educator in the Philadelphia School District.
After graduating from South Philadelphia High School for Girls, Barron worked for nearly 30 years as a typist for several federal agencies, including the Navy Yard and the Aviation Supply Office. She retired with a disability in 1973, her daughter said.
Barnes said her mother was "a stickler for spelling and punctuation." And she enjoyed playing Scrabble and completing crossword puzzles.
But she really enjoyed her weekly pinochle games with a club that met every Thursday afternoon at St. Simon the Cyrenian Episcopal Church, Barnes said.
In recent years, Barnes said, her mother also talked to her brother Robert Fortune of Willingboro nearly every day on the telephone.
"They loved to talk about sports," Barnes said. "My mother really loved watching basketball."
Barron also had been a member of Old St. Mary's Church and the Church of the Crucifixion. She also attended the Episcopal Church of SS. Andrew and Matthew in Wilmington.
Survivors, in addition to her daughter and brother: a sister, Delores Cliett; another brother, James Banks; a niece; two grandsons; three great-granddaughters; and three great-grandsons.
Friends may call at 9 a.m. Saturday, with funeral services starting at 10 a.m. at St. Simon the Cyrenian, 22nd Street near Reed, South Philadelphia. Burial in Northwood Cemetery.
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