FARMINGDALE – Mildred died on Dec. 20, 2022 at the age of 98. She was born and raised in Westfield, N.J. Her family spent summers on the Jersey shore and she had fond memories of summers on the beach.

She attended Bates College, graduated in 1945 with a major in Chemistry, and went on to receive a medical degree from Boston University in 1950. Following graduation she did her residency and internship at Germantown Hospital in Philadelphia where she was the only female intern. There she met her future husband, John Conrad Kistenmacher. They were married June 14, 1952.

She had a long and distinguished career working as a pediatrician, clinical geneticist, and director of clinical labs primarily at St Christopher’s Hospital in Philadelphia. She retired in 1994 after 29 years of study, research, writing and presenting multiple papers, and counseling and helping many parents of children with genetic abnormalities.

Although both Mildred and Jack had very demanding professions, they always found time for their family. They took yearly trips to Maine where they rented a camp on Lake Pennesseewassee, visited her parents in Gulfport, Fla., and took family vacations to West Virginia, skiing, the Jersey shore and visited National Parks

Over the years Mildred had many different hobbies. She liked to play bridge, knit sweaters, sew (including ski jackets, tents and a wedding dress), watch the Phillies, Eagles, Flyers and figure skating, ride horses, make fantastic granola and meatloaf, play the organ, listen to the Philadelphia orchestra, and drink black coffee and Jack Daniels. She served a term as a Trustee at Bates College. She researched her family’s genealogy back to the 1600’s and visited the location where her ancestors arrived in New Amsterdam (NYC).

Following retirement, she was very active in local civic and church groups, and she and Jack traveled extensively with family and friends. Destinations included Alaska, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Costa Rica, Niagara Falls, Mexico, the American west, the Virgin Islands, England, Scotland, Wales, Bermuda, Canada and Holland. She traveled above the Arctic Circle, dug up dinosaur bones in Utah and cruised through the Panama Canal.

A few years following Jack’s death in 2011, Mildred moved to Maine to be near her children. She always said she would spend all her money before she died and go in her sleep and she followed through on both these promises. She also completed the paperwork and instructed the family to donate her body to science, which has now happened.

Mildred loved her family and step family very much, and never hesitated to share her ‘point of view’.

Mildred is survived by her three children, Susan and her husband Mark of Farmingdale, John and his wife Donna of Brunswick and Stephen of Damariscotta; two grandchildren, Trevor and Gretchen and her husband Chris; two great-grandchildren, Aiden and Lilly; five stepgrandchildren; and four stepgreat-grandchildren.

The family would like to thank, and are grateful for, all of the caring professionals at Granite Hill Estates and Mid Coast Senior Health Center for all the wonderful care and attention they provided Mildred during her time spent there.

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