The Louise Decker Home in Riverside Drive was opened in 1946 on 6 1/2 acres of land donated by Lady Macmillan who gave the home the name of her much loved and trusted maid, Louise Decker.

Fergus McCartney - photo of grave - inscription - "after 75 years of long and faithful service"

Her grave is on Donyo Sabuk mountain alongside Sir William and Lady Macmillan - in loving memory of my dear old Louise (R Decker) born 30 July 1850 Died 1 December 1938 after 75 years of long faithful service "Sleep faithful heart the long day's work is past. Sleep happy soul for all must sleep at last."

In her passport applications (Ancestry) her year of birth was given variously as 1851 and 1853 but birth registration has 1849. (Massachusetts Birth Records)

Judy Aldrick, Northrup, 2012: Lucie McMillan had a v. close relationship with Louise, who was like a mother to her and had been her nurse since birth. Louise was a devoted and stalwart companion.

Sometimes described as the daughter of a black American slave, she was in fact more probably of German extraction. She is listed in the 1870 US census when Lucie was 3, having just lost her mother, and was living in Vermont. Lucie, who was v. fond of Louise, founded the Louise Decker Home, for elderly Europeans of small means, in her memory.