Belfast - BELFAST - Mary Page (Schwarzwaelder) Worth, a former mayor of Belfast, died Oct. 3, 2013, in Belfast after a period of declining health.

She was elected Mayor of the City of Belfast, the city's first female mayor, in 1986, and served her adopted city with energy and grace for 14 years.

Mrs. Worth was born Jan. 23, 1924, in Baltimore, the only child of the late Lt. Col. Christian Allen Schwarzwaelder, U.S. Army, and his wife, Margaret Pennington Holbein Schwarzwaelder. Her father was a career Army officer, and Margaret and Page traveled with him to stations in the Philippines, Japan and across the United States. She especially enjoyed her family's years at the United States Military Academy, where she attended high school at Ladycliff Academy.

Mrs. Worth was adventurous. In the mid-1940s she joined the American Red Cross. She was posted to Occupied Japan to direct U.S.O. clubs for servicemen and women. She met and married her husband, also a career Army man, there. Returning to the States, she and their three children accompanied her husband to many different Army posts. Her children remember one trip in particular. In 1958, their father was stationed in Vietnam as an Army aviator. Shortly thereafter, Mrs. Worth decided that the family should join him. With no hesitation she packed the three children, two Great Danes and their luggage into a red convertible Oldsmobile, and drove from Alabama to the West Coast for the voyage to Saigon, where the family lived for the next two years.

Mrs. Worth was civic-minded. In Vietnam, she helped establish Girl Scout troops for local children and children of foreign military and government officials and she worked to support Madame Vu Thi Ngai's An Lac orphanage. After she and her husband retired to Maine, she served as a member of the Searsport select board and the local Chamber of Commerce. In 1972, she founded the Penobscot Expedition Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, an organization that remained dear to her heart. Settling in Belfast, she worked to promote and serve the city. She appreciated the people of Belfast and what she saw as its limitless potential.

She was predeceased by her beloved husband, Lt. Col. William J. Worth, U.S. Army, retired, in 1986. She is survived by her daughter, Margaret Worth of Belfast, and her children, John David Marcato and Michelle Kiely of Marina del Ray, Calif., and Liza Marcato of Hillsdale, N.Y.; her son, William Worth and his wife, Barbara Worth, of Astoria, Wash., and their children, Nathan and Lauren Worth of Eugene, Ore., and Katherine and Chad Coluccio of Newport Beach, Calif.; her son, John D. Worth III, and his wife, Patricia G. Worth, of Belfast and their children, Jonathan D. and Stephanie A. Worth of Chicago, and Emily G. and Corey R. Sampson of Topsham; and four great-grandchildren.

A celebration of life will be held 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 12, at First Church in Belfast, U.C.C., with coffee and refreshments to follow. In lieu of flowers, friends may make a memorial donation to Belfast-Waldo County Humane Society, P.O. Box 479, Belfast, ME 04915. Arrangements are by Young Funeral Home and Cremation Service, 31 W. Main St., Searsport. www.mitchelltweedie-young.com.