Mildred Hartmann McQueen

Mildred Hartmann McQueen, known as Mimi, died on Friday, March 10, 2023 at Brethren Village in Lititz, Pennsylvania. Mimi was 101 years old. Mimi was born on September 13, 1921, in Park Ridge, Illinois to Henry and Ethel Hartmann. She attended the Connecticut College for Women and graduated from Northwestern University where she pledged Kappa Kappa Gamma. She remained an active member of Lancaster’s Kappa association, which awarded her a 75-year pin and lifetime membership. During World War II, Mimi Hartmann worked at the War Department in Washington, D.C. where she corrected maps based on her analysis of aerial photographs. While boarding in Russell and Margaret McQueen’s Georgetown home, she met their son, a fighter pilot who had served in south Asia and was then working for Owens Boats in York. Mimi married James Russell McQueen, Jr., in November 1947. In 1949, the young couple moved to Lancaster where Jim launched the Trojan Boat Company (later known as Trojan Yacht Company). Mimi’s devotion to her husband and to Lancaster County never wavered. As a young mother, Mimi was an active member of the Junior League. Her fondest memory of her volunteer service was leading a band of puppeteers where she voiced Hansel in their performances of Hansel and Gretel at local elementary schools and the Lancaster Horse Show. The sawdust used to mold the puppets’ heads came from the factory floor of the boat company on Greenfield Road. While raising five children, Mimi’s quieter moments were spent honing needlepoint skills; she leaves an extensive legacy of pillows, rugs, and wall hangings. In addition to gardening, golfing, and volunteering at the Lancaster Day Care Center and the Lancaster Museum of Art’s docent program, Mimi had a deep interest in local artists and a long-lasting commitment to the Demuth Foundation and Museum. As Mimi became ever more embedded in the life of Lancaster County, Jim grew the Trojan into one of the country’s premiere manufacturers of sports fishing boats and yachts. The Whittaker Corporation acquired Trojan in 1969. Jim stayed on to head several other companies in the conglomerate’s marine group, before leaving in 1976 to lead the boat division of Chris-Craft Industries in Fort Lauderdale. Mimi followed him, but not before the couple acquired property near the Hunsecker’s Mill Covered Bridge. Jim died in Florida in November 1980. Mimi left her volunteer role at the Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art to return alone to their Lancaster property where she built a contemporary farmhouse designed by her oldest son. As she settled back into Lancaster life, Mimi deepened her support of the Demuth Museum. A longtime volunteer and board member from 1990 to 2000, Mimi was vice president in 1992, then president from 1993 to 1995 and again in 1999. During that time the museum launched the renovation of their 1798 snuff mill and rebuilt the brick shed/privy at the rear of the Demuth house to provide secure and environmentally controlled collection storage—two projects that benefited from Mimi’s fundraising skills. In recognition of this deep connection, Mimi donated selections from her extensive collection of Lancaster artists to the Demuth Foundation and Lancaster Art Museums so that others may continue to enjoy and learn from their work. While Jim was alive, most of Mimi’s travel was related to boating, including sailing in the Caribbean and visiting boat shows in Germany and Italy. Later travels – on her own, with a tour group, or a child or two – Mimi explored Japan, China, Kenya, Spain, Egypt, Turkey, Italy, Belgium, and Holland. Even in her later years, Mimi remained actively engaged in her community, helping young readers at the Carter and MacRae Elementary School and supporting Lancaster’s arts community by attending First Fridays and Demuth events. Mimi’s dedication to Lancaster was most evident when she helped her neighbors – both Amish and “English” – organize an ultimately unsuccessful effort against the expansion of a local quarry. Mimi’s final years at Brethren Village, where she received excellent care since 2017, were relatively quiet. She enjoyed visits with friends and family. Mimi also oversaw the donation of materials related to her husband’s service in WWII and the Korean War to the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum and his Trojan Yacht Company archives to LancasterHistory. She is survived by her children Ann McQueen, Massachusetts; James H. McQueen, Massachusetts; Kathleen MacQueen, wife of Peter Stader, Germany; and the Reverend Henry P. McQueen, husband of Diane Hertz, Maryland, Susan McQueen Kurtz, wife of John Kurtz III, Pennsylvania, predeceased her mother. Mimi McQueen’s grandchildren are J. Parr McQueen, Florida; Alexander Stader, Colorado; and John Kurtz IV, Pennsylvania, husband of Allyse Van Zee Kurtz and father of Mimi’s great-granddaughter, Cassidy Susan Kurtz. A service in celebration of Mimi McQueen’s life will be held at St. James Episcopal Church, 119 North Duke Street, Lancaster on Friday, April 14, 2023, at 1:00 p.m. In lieu of flowers, the family encourages contributions to the Demuth Foundation, Lancaster County Conservancy, Lancaster Farmland Trust, and LancasterHistory.