Ishpeming – Mildred E. Merrilla, age 100, longtime Ishpeming resident passed away on Wednesday April 26, 2017 at the Eastwood Nursing Center in Negaunee where she had resided since 2013.  She had been under the loving care of her daughter Kathy Lyons, the staff at Eastwood and UP Home Health and Hospice.

Mildred was born September 3, 1916 in Ishpeming the daughter of the late Arthur and Eliina (Koukkari) Kallatsa and was a lifelong area resident.  She enjoyed being a homemaker and providing her canned foods and garden vegetables for her family.  Mildred loved Cross Country Skiing and painting which included oil painting and repainting the interior of her house on an annual basis.  She loved animals throughout her life.  Mildred was loved by those who had cared for her over the past several years at the Eastwood Nursing Center.

Survivors include her daughter Kathy (Gary) Lyons of Marquette, nieces and cousins including Viola Oja, Barbara Miller, Karen Trout and Carolyn Olson, her "other daughter" Christine Solka Smith Gupta, and foster granddaughter Jeri Lynne (Wally) Blumenstein of Mosinee, WI.  Mildred was preceded in death by her husband Emil Merrilla in 1999, infant son Wayne Charles Merrilla, beloved grandson Terrence James Lyons, brothers William and Werner Kallatsa and sister Miriam Savolainen.

A graveside service will be held on at 2:00pm on Tuesday May 23, 2017 at the Ishpeming Cemetery with the Rev. Warren Geier to officiate.

Memorials may be directed to UPAWS at upaws.org or 84 Snowfield Rd., Negaunee, MI 49866 in memory of Mildred.