Bernice O. Redington

Bernice Orpha Redington (December 9, 1891 – March 9, 1966) was a home economics expert and journalist, her bylines being Prudence Penny, Carolyn Cuisine and Mary Mills.

Early life Bernice Orpha Redington was born on December 9, 1891, in Puyallup, Washington, the daughter of Col. John W. Redington and Elinor Meacham. graduate nutritionist with a practical experience in food preservation.

Career After graduation she worked as a dietitian at the State School for the Blind in Vancouver, Washington, and at various advertising agencies.

In 1936 she moved to Honolulu, Hawaii, and joined The Honolulu Star-Bulletin as home economics editor and The Hawaii Farm and Home Magazine as women's editor.

During World War II she was a technical assistant of the War Food Administration and lectured in community canning. She was the assistant of Ben H. Body; Body was engaged in commercial canning operations. She became a home canning expert and won widespread acclaim as a conductor of cooking schools on the Pacific Coast. She gave demonstrations for the San Francisco Chapter of the American Red Cross. and worked out some original canning recipes. She was the originator of "Chalk Talks", illustrating home canning by means of simple diagrams.

In 1946 she was appointed by the Department of Public Instruction to the Adult Education division.

In 1948 she went back living in Seattle and became the home economics director for the Fisher Flouring Mills, with headquarters in Seattle. She was in charge of home economics activities for the mills for the states of Washington, Oregon, California and Arizona, and made frequent trips to these states, giving demonstrations on cooking methods and home making. She conducted a series of classes and demonstrations which she called "It pays to be lazy." She signed her articles as "Mary Mills" and was well known for her radio programs for Fisher.

She was the author of Old-time quilts: a collection of old-time quilt patterns chosen from entries in the Post-intelligencer quilt show January, 1927 and of other two books, one a cook book. She also did free-lance writing. In 1950 she built a house at Normandy Park, on Puget Sound, south of Seattle, and called it "Hale Malowaa" which means "House of Laziness".