Mary Ellen Commodore

Mary Ellen Carter Commodore was born on July 23, 1928 in Lent, Virginia (Currently A.P. Hill) the third child of Esther Browning Rich Carter and William Vanderbuilt Carter, Sr. departed this life Saturday, February 2, 2013 in Providence Hospital in Washington, D.C.

Mary attended Mount Olive Grade School in Lent, Virginia and Union High School of Bowling Green, Virginia where she was a great softball player. When she was little, she and her cousin Franklin Carter loved to play at their grandparent's home. Mary made mud pies in jar tops, as cooking and dancing were two of her favorite things to do.

On March 30, 1948 she was joined in holy wedlock to Clifford Dewitt Commodore of Washington, D.C. Mary was a beautiful and devoted wife of 64 years, a loyal friend and a source of wisdom and strength. She enjoyed working at The Blair House, the official State Guest House for Foreign Heads visiting the President of the United States.

She is preceded in death by her husband, Clifford D. Commodore; mother, Esther Rich Carter; father, William Vanderbuilt Carter, Sr.; two siblings, Charles Randolph Carter, Sr., and William V. Carter, Jr.

She is survived by three sisters, Sally L. Williams, Dorothy C. Black and Esther C. Ivory; three nieces, Michele Carter, India and Inga Ivory; five nephews, Stephen and Gerard Black, William V. Carter III, John and Randolph Carter; two great-nieces, Antonette Carter Jenkins and Paris Brooke Carter; three great-nephews, Barry Smith, Christopher and Brian Carter.