Audrey Meade

Audrey Phyllis Lloyd Meade, 89, an Annapolis resident since 1973, died December 29 at the Ginger Cove Heath Center after a long illness.

Audrey was born July 10, 1922 to the late Harold and Kathleen Lloyd, on St Vincent in the Cape Verdes Islands. She was British by birth, as both her parents were life-long British ex-patriots, her father a manager of various stations of the British communications firm Cables and Wireless throughout his professional life. She was largely educated at home as they moved from the Cape Verdes to Madeira and then on to Recife and Rio De Janeiro in Brazil, though she was sent back to England for a brief period prior to WWII for a more formal finish to that education. At the outbreak of hostilities between the British and the German, her parents sent for her and she returned to her family, then living in Rio.

Audrey met and married Randolph Meade Jr., a young American Naval Officer, in Rio in 1943. He brought her home to the United States and together they traveled to duty posts around the country and overseas for the next 23 years. In 1966 Capt. Meade retired from the Navy and accepted a position as Vice President for Business and Finance at the University of Delaware. For the next 7 years they lived in Newark, Delaware where Audrey was an active volunteer. In 1973 they left Newark and settled in Annapolis, Maryland for their retirement.

Audrey was a homemaker, Navy wife, and mother. She enjoyed tennis, was a fabulous cook and hostess, and was the strong center of her sometimes far flung family.

In June 2002, she was preceded in death by her husband of 59 years, Capt. Randolph Meade, Jr. USN (Ret).

Audrey is survived by her son, Capt. Randolph Meade, III, USCG (Ret.), of Vero Beach, FL; daughters Kathleen M. Craighill of Annapolis, MD, Julie-Ann M. Urban of Landenberg, PA, and Susan M. Fitzgerald of St Petersburg, FL; six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

There was an inurnment ceremony at the US Naval Academy Columbarium on January 3, 2012. Donations in Audrey's memory may be made to the U.S. Naval Academy Foundation at 291 Wood Road, Annapolis, MD 21401 or to an animal welfare organization of your choice.