DELRAY BEACH — Colleagues called on Mildred McKinnon George, known to friends as “Mim,” to help with projects right up until the day she died at age 85 on Nov. 6.
“I called her that day to ask her to help us with a special assessment at Spady Cultural Heritage Museum,” said Vera Farrington, the museum’s founder and a longtime friend.
“She was a fantastic person and I wanted her to chair that committee,” Farrington said.
Unfortunately, it was too late. Mrs. George’s daughter answered the phone and shared the sad news.
Passionate about preserving the history and culture of Delray Beach, Mrs. George was on Spady’s board of directors.
“She was a strong person to accomplish all she had done. She was loved by so many. I don’t think she ever met a person who was not her friend,” Farrington said.
Farrington, a historian who grew up in Delray, said she had known the George family all of her life.
“They were friends when it wasn’t cool for whites and blacks to associate and let it be known,” Farrington recalled.
Mrs. George was born in Erie, Penn., and served in the Navy WAVES during World War II.
She met her late husband, Delray native Edward M. George of the A. George family, in 1947 when she came to town to join her sister, Charlotte, who ran a deli across from the Colony Hotel. The George family had a general store on Atlantic Avenue.
Mrs. George was a homemaker, volunteer, PTA president, Cub Scout den mother and Sunday school teacher who, after 20 years of marriage, returned to school at Palm Beach Community College and later, Florida Atlantic University.
Her son Ed was in some of the same classes with his mother.
“You can’t do much whining when you’re in a class with your mother and she’s getting an easy A and you are struggling to get a C-plus,” her son remembered. “At one time, four of us (Georges) were going to PBCC at the same time.”
Mrs. George worked with the Florida Probation and Parole Commission in Delray for 11 years.
After graduation from FAU, she joined the county public defender’s office, becoming director of alternative sentencing, advising attorneys and judges on better options than prison for defendants with special circumstances.
She was a champion for women with no voice in the criminal justice system, her son Ed said. She was a pioneer in this field, her program becoming a model for public defenders in Florida and the nation, gaining wide recognition.
In a 1993 news story about Mrs. George, Palm Beach County Judge Nancy Perez, who worked in the Public Defender’s Office, described her this way: “She’s a unique lady. She has the energy of 10 people 30 years younger. She’s the one I went to when I had a client who needed an unusual type of treatment.’’
Mrs. George was a founding member of the National Alliance of Sentencing Advocates. Her legacy lives on through the Mim George Award, presented in her honor each year by the National Legal Aid and Defender Association for outstanding work in this area.
She received many awards, including the Urban League of Palm Beach County’s Beacon of Light Award, the Harriette S. Glasner Freedom Award, the Wayside House Butterfly Award and the Award for Service to Indigent Clients. She also received awards from the Comprehensive Alcoholism Rehabilitation Programs, Soroptimist International, Executive Women of the Palm Beaches and others.
Mrs. George served on more than 16 boards and associations. She was appointed by the governor to the District Health and Human Services Board and served on the Palm Beach County United Way Volunteer Bureau.
A celebration of her life will be held at 11 a.m., Dec. 11 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Delray Beach.
Comments