Mildred (Hansen) Piliero

Mildred Piliero passed away peacefully at age 97 on Thursday, October 12, 2023.  Mildred leaves behind two sons and a daughter, four grandchildren, and two great grandchildren.

Born in April 1926 in New York City, Mildred grew up in the city with her parents and two older sisters. As a child, Manhattan was her playground.  One of the best-known photos from Mildred’s youth is a photo of her joyfully skating with her sisters in Central Park.  While the city was their home most of the year, Mildred and her sisters also knew their way around a beach, spending summers with their Massachusetts cousins in oceanside Fairhaven, Massachusetts. 

Mildred was a proud, self-reliant New Yorker and the first in her family to attend college.  She graduated from Hunter College shortly after World War II and in 1950 married fellow New Yorker Ralph Piliero.  Ralph and Mildred moved several times and eventually relocated to Ridgewood, NJ in 1960. 

After settling in New Jersey, Mildred obtained her master’s degree in speech pathology.  She then worked for 25 years as a highly respected speech pathologist in the Paramus, NJ school system.

Shortly after retiring, Ralph and Mildred moved to Wall, NJ on the Jersey Shore where Mildred picked up the hobby of birding which she enjoyed for years.  As a retired couple in the 1990s, Ralph and Mildred had great fun together travelling extensively throughout the US and Europe.

Family members who visited Ralph and Mildred at the Jersey shore will remember large family gatherings in Wall around the holidays.  There was always time for a walk on the boardwalk at Spring Lake, a bit of discount outlet shopping, occasional fishing in Point Pleasant, and of course dinners at longtime favorite Mr. Shrimp in Belmar.

Mildred and Ralph were together for more than six decades until Ralph’s passing in 2014. Mildred moved to Massachusetts to be near family in 2015 and lived for eight years in Wellesley.

Mildred’s stamina and good health well into her nineties often surprised people. She continued to travel in recent years including a 2019 trip to Panama where she was the first one on the ferry for a sunrise transit of the Panama Canal.  Mildred was still traveling as recently as Thanksgiving 2022 which she spent with family visiting Sarasota Florida.

Mildred was in good health until a few weeks before her passing and enjoyed a long and very full life. 

Visiting hours will be held from 1:00 - 2:00 pm on Friday November 24, 2023, at John Everett & Sons Funeral Home, 4 Park St., Natick Common.  A memorial service will be held at 2:00 pm. The service will be live streamed, and a link will be placed on this tribute site to access the live stream closer to the service date.

To Stream Mildred's Memorial Service on Friday, November 24, 2023 at 2:00 pm please visit: Event Live Streaming | Harborview.live | Mildred Piliero

To plant a beautiful memorial tree in memory of Mildred (Hansen) Piliero, please visit our Tree Store.