1906 – 2003

WEST PARIS – Mildred L. Cotton, 97, of Bethel died quietly at Ledgeview Living Center, Tuesday, Nov. 18, where she had been a resident since October 2000.

She was born Aug. 12, 1906, in Mechanic Falls, the daughter of Samuel Eben and Lilias Harwood Nay. She graduated from Mechanic Falls High School followed by a year of nurse’s training at Central Maine General Hospital. She married Albert F. Cotton of Mechanic Falls on Dec. 20, 1928.

Mrs. Cotton, with her husband, owned and operated Cotton’s Restaurant in Bethel from 1945 to 1964. In later years she returned to Mechanic Falls and worked for several years in Lewiston shoe shops, retiring in 1971. She resided in Mechanic Falls with her sister, Ella, for several years until failing health made it necessary for her to move to Bethel with her daughter.

She was a life member and Past Worthy Matron of Dwinal Chapter Order of the Eastern Star and a member of the Mechanic Falls Baptist Church.

She is survived by her daughter, Marguerite Cotton Kendall and her husband Ronald of Bethel; two grandchildren, Sandra Kendall Dennis and her husband Scott and Mark W. Kendall and Brenda Maines all of Bethel; five great-grandchildren, Andrew and Erin Dennis and Bret, Trevor and Maxim Kendall; and one brother, Harold Nay of Mechanic Falls.

She was predeceased by her husband, Albert F. Cotton; three brothers, Frederick, Frank and Clarence Nay; and four sisters, Thelma Turner, Edith Raymond, Ella Jones and Edna Newton.