READFIELD — Mildred Cole Peladeau, a national authority on American hooked rugs, passed away at her home in Readfield on Saturday, Nov. 4, after a long illness with Parkinson’s disease.
She was born in Lewiston, April 15, 1928, the daughter of Frank and Gladys (Wight) Cole. She graduated from Lewiston High School and attended the Central Maine General Hospital School of Nursing and Michigan State University.
She became a reporter for the Lewiston Daily Sun in both the State Department and on the society desk. It was there that she met her future husband, Marius B. Peladeau, who also was a reporter.
She was a founding member of what was then known as Maine Press, TV and Radio Women. After leaving the newspaper she worked for Arco in Augusta where she was named director of all festivities and activities to mark the state of Maine’s Sesquicentennial (150th anniversary of statehood).
After working at the Maine State Archives she and Mr. Peladeau were married at
St. Joseph’s Church in Washington, D.C., in 1972, where he was working for a U.S. Congressman.
They returned to Maine and settled in Monmouth. Mrs. Peladeau opened “Needlecraft Corner” in Hallowell which she operated for many years, becoming well-known for her knowledge of textile arts. At this time she started to focus her scholarship on hooked rugs, with a special emphasis on those created in Maine.
In 2008 her landmark book, “Rug Hooking in Maine, 1838-1940,” was published and has been kept in print because of the continued demand for the ground-breaking research it contains on the origins of this art form in the Pine Tree State.
She has been a consultant on hooked rugs to the American Textile History Museum, Colonial Williamsburg, Maine Historical Society, the American Folk Art Museum in New York and other organizations. She was the guest curator of two separate hooked rug exhibitions at the Farnsworth Art Museum, one on historical rugs, the other on contemporary hooked textiles by those carrying on the art today. She was also involved in organizing hooked rug exhibitions at the Bates College Museum of Art and the American Textile History Museum.
Mrs. Peladeau was predeceased by her parents; and sister.
She is survived by her husband; a cousin; and several nieces and nephews.
Memories, condolences, videos and photos may be shared with the family on the obituary page of the website at www.khrfuneralhomes.com.
Mildred Cole Peladeau
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