Mary Catherine Phlegar McMillan

Mary Catherine Phlegar McMillan

August 11, 1934 - December 19, 2025

Mary Catherine (Cathy) Phlegar McMillan, 91, passed away Friday, December 19, 2025.  She was happily married to Neil Malcolm McMillan for 66 years.

Cathy was born on August 11, 1934 to Madeline Guthrie and Archie Strader Phlegar in Pearisburg, Virginia.  She was raised on a beautiful apple orchard farm.  She graduated from James Madison College and went on to graduate with a master’s degree at the Presbyterian School of Christian Education in Richmond, Va.  It was there that she met her future husband,  a student at Union Theological Seminary, while singing in a combined school choir.  After a year in Scotland with her husband, who was doing graduate study there at the University of Edinburgh, and six years in Bluefield, Va., she became a public school music teacher in Wilmington, NC.  After receiving another master’s degree in English as a Second Language, she taught ESL in the public schools of Charlotte, NC for more than 20 years.  She was a beloved minister’s wife in all the churches they served.

Her children will never forget the smell of homemade bread baking on Saturdays, her soprano voice chiming above all others, snowy days and Christmas excitement, passionate card playing, drives through the Scottish Highlands, rooting for favorite basketball teams, reading out loud, witty remarks, loving hands, joy and laughter.

Upon retirement, Cathy and Neil moved to the mountains of NC in the beautiful town of Black Mountain.  In their later years there, they resided in the Givens Highland Farms retirement community.  There they enjoyed fellowship with many friends, both old and new.

In retirement, they became members of the Black Mountain Presbyterian Church where she served as a church deacon, on the search committee for two senior pastors, directed the children’s choir for many years, sang as a member of the adult choir, and was a recipient of the Presbyterian Women Honorary Life Membership in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A).

Cathy is survived by her husband and four children:  Catherine McMillan-Haueis (Peter), Carolyn Hutton, John McMillan (Michele) and Cara Younger (Randy), along with thirteen grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. 

Cathy was preceded in death by her infant son, Cameron, her brothers, Fredrick and Archie G. Phlegar and a son-law, Mark Hutton. 

A celebration of life service will be held on Monday, February 16, 2026 at 3:00 pm at the Black Mountain Presbyterian Church, with her pastors officiating.  Friends are invited to a reception after the service in the fellowship hall.  The service will be live streamed on the church's You Tube channel.   

Her family would like to express their gratitude to the staff and caregivers of the Givens Highland Farms Health Care Center, as well as the Four Seasons Hospice Care for the loving care they gave to Cathy in her final months.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the Swannanoa Valley Christian Ministry (SVCM), 101 N. Ridgeway Ave., Black Mountain, NC 28711, or the Black Mountain Presbyterian Church, P.O. Box 39, Black Mountain, NC, 28711.

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