Florrie Mills, Age 84, Was Family Therapist

Florrie Mills, 84, died peacefully in her home in Oak Bluffs on May 9, Mother's Day, surrounded by her children.

She was born Florence Chatman Dalton on July 29, 1919 in Milton, the youngest of seven children, to Philip and Susan Howe Dalton, longtime residents of the summer colony of West Chop. As a member of the Want to Know Club, founded in the late 1800s by a group of literary-minded Island women, Florrie writes in a biographical sketch: "I spent every summer in West Chop. Those were the halcyon days of tennis, swimming and sailing. I received my first kiss at the end of the West Chop big pier."

After graduating from Milton Academy in 1937, Florrie was a debutante in Boston where she was a member of the Vincent Club before attending Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, N.Y. Knowing no one at this school, feeling totally alone, she was happy to discover at Gilbert Hall another Miltonian, younger and equally lost, named Kay Tweed. the two immediately formed a friendship, later became roommates and remained lifelong friends. Kay's son, Tweed Roosevelt, is Florrie's godson; Kay is godmother to Florrie's daughter, Fluer.

Florrie writes, "Two years at Sarah Lawrence College woke me to my enduring interests: music, art and psychology." Two of the professors who had the greatest influence on Florrie were composer William Schuman and Joseph Campbell.

It was at the end of another pier, this one at the Edgartown Yacht Club, that Florrie Dalton became engaged to Lewis Perry Jr. They were married in 1941. The Daltons and the Perrys were friends of longstanding from their many summers together in West Chop.

During the war years Florrie and Kay and their children shared an apartment in New York city. Lawrie and Tweed were born in 1942 and Fluer in 1945. Their summers were spent in West Chop.

To further quote Florrie:

"We raised our children as best we could without husbands. I took turns in the firehouse at night, sleeping on the floor, ready to alert the town if planes were heard. We saw numerous destroyers going by and an occasional submarine surfaced."

After Lew returned from the Pacific, the family moved to Lawrenceville School in New Jersey where Lew joined the English department. Florrie and Lew were the beloved "houseparents" at Griswold for many years. It was during this period that Lewis Perry 3rd was born and some years later Jonathan followed. In 1957 Lew became headmaster of the Fountain Valley School in Colorado where Florrie was involved in many school activities and community interests over many years. The marriage ended in divorce in 1964.

Florrie continued her college studies and at the age of 53 graduated from Colorado College in 1973. In 1977, Florrie, having married George Mills, moved to the Vineyard year-round. Here George, a professor at Lake Forest College, shifted his focus to writing poetry, of which several books have been published. George Mills died in 1998.

On the Vineyard Florrie's life touched many and took on new dimensions. She fulfilled her love of music by her singing with Abendmusik of the Federated Church, the Community Chorus and the choir of the First Congregational Church in West Tisbury. There were regular and frequent trips to the symphony and the opera in Boston.

Equally important to Florrie was her work as a family therapist. Her intense caring about people and their welfare led to her wholehearted involvement in many causes: women's rights, the Red Cross and Amnesty International, among others.

Florrie has been a peace activist for over 30 years. She was a member of the Vineyard Peace Council and participated in various peace demonstrations which took her to Washington, D.C., as well as to Five Corners, Vineyard Haven, in the most bitter cold. Her daughter recalls that "perhaps her finest hour of civil disobedience" was at Otis Air Force base when she was arrested during a protest against nuclear power. She was then in her 70s.

Florries's great love of travel took her to many interesting places such as Portugal, India, China, England, Bavaria, Austria, Mexico and Russia, where she was apprehended by the KGB for passing out peace leaflets in Red Square. She had earlier left some literature in the ladies room at the Bolshoi Ballet.

One of her many friends remarks with heartfelt admiration: "Florrie approached life with a fearless spirit and a great sense of adventure. She was a bright light in our lives." Florrie's most cherished relationships were with her family, both immediate and extended. She is survived by her daughters, Lawrie Diack Wilson of Boulder, Colo., and Fluer Dalton Green of Santa Fe, N.Mex., and her son, Jonathan Dalton Colley Perry of Beverly.

She was pre-deceased in 1978 by her son, Lewis Perry 3rd. There are five grandchildren: Michael Dalton Greene, Crofton Diack and Sam Diack, and Dylan and Julia Perry. There is one great grandson, Dalton Stone Huckins.

The memorial service will be at the First Congregational Church in West Tisbury at 2 p.m. on Friday, July 9. Donations in her memory may be made to Camp Jabberwocky in Vineyard Haven or Peace Action in Silver Springs, Md.