Mildred L. Townsend

On July 1, 2010, Age 95 was called home to be with The Lord. Mildred was born and lived in Westmont all her life with her parents, J. Edward Townsend and Myrtle L. Townsend, and her two sisters, Myrtle and Alice.
She was an 80 year member of the Grace Baptist Church, Westmont, where she served in many capacities – teaching children, member of the Board of Education and Board of Deacons, representative to the Baptist Home and active member of The Alice H. Townsend Missionary Society.
Mildred attended Haddon Ave. School in Westmont and Collingswood High School. She received her B.A. from Glassboro State College and her M.A. from Columbia University. After graduating as a teacher, she taught in Haddon Avenue School, was the principal at Stoy School, then a teacher in Haddon Heights. Her next position was a New Jersey State Helping Teacher, specialist in curriculum and teaching in Cape May County and Morris Counties. During this time, she taught courses for teachers at Newark and Jersey City State.
She was a local leader and life member of the P.T.A., a member of The National Council of The Teachers of English, The National Reading Association, The National Education Association, The New Jersey Education Association and was active in the National Right-to-Read program. She was a member of a special team sent for Study in India under the direction of the U.S. Department of Education in Washington.
After her home church experience and her graduation from The Philadelphia School of The Bible (Now Philadelphia Biblical University), she was well prepared to serve for 35 years as Minister of Education at the First Baptist Church in Somerville, NJ. During this time she worked in Haiti; with a church-related team and helped to train 32 seminary students from different countries. Interment is private. Relatives and friends are invited to attend her memorial service on Saturday, July 10th 11 AM at Grace Baptist Church, 23 Reeve Ave., Westmont, NJ 08108. The family requests contributions in Mildred’s memory be made to the Church.