Mary Elizabeth Hilton was born April 28, 1927 at Fort Totten, Long Island, N.Y.
Her father was a Lt. Colonel in the US ARMY and her mother immigrated from Scotland.
An ARMY " brat" they moved to various states eventually lighting in Washington.

Growing up the family lived in Seattle, Mercer Island and Bellevue.
Some of her fondest memories were the times they spent with her aunt and uncle's family in Chehalis.

Mary graduated from Overlake ( Bellevue) High School and then attended classes at
Mills College in California.
One weekend in November of 1946, she eloped with her high school sweetheart, Bill Morton.

They owned a small grocery store in Seattle in the early 50's;
very long hours for a young couple with then two young baby boys.
After they sold the store they moved to the Beaux Arts village of Bellevue.

Mary later worked at Pacific First National Bank of Bellevue as a bookkeeper and teller.
In 1954 they bought a small house with a large yard in Bellevue on Main Street;
an address they kept for many years.

Mary, Bill and their daughter Shari moved to Illinois in the 1970's where she worked for
a record company.
The company relocated them to Colorado in the 1980's. After her retirement they remained there until
2012, when she and Shari returned "home" to Washington.

Mary loved music, playing the piano as well as singing.
For many years she annually sang the Messiah with a chorale group in Seattle.
She also sang with the First Congregational Church Choir for several years, as did her mother.
She made a point of celebrating Beethoven's birthday each December.

A voracious reader, a couple of her favorite authors were Debbie Macomber and Nora Roberts.

Mary had a wonderfully quick wit and wry sense of humor.
She was very respectful and polite to all she met and exuded the Christian values
of charity and good will to all she encountered.

Mary left us on the morning of January 21, 2016.
She is survived by her daughter and three sons, as well as a grand-daughter,
great-grand-children and a great-great-grand child, cousins, nieces, nephews and
a very lengthy list of friends.