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DAYTON — A ray of sunshine is gone.

Millie Bingham, known as Millie B. and Kate McQueen to readers of her columns in The Journal Herald and Dayton Daily News, died early Thursday at Hospice of Dayton. She was 82.

Her son Tim and his girlfriend Linda Gum were at her side.

After retiring in 2005, Mrs. Bingham suffered a series of strokes that left her unable to speak. She was in and out of a nursing home last year, but traveled with her son and Gum to North Carolina for several weeks before Thanksgiving. Her health declined rapidly after she fell and broke her hip after arriving back home. She entered Hospice Jan. 18.

"Millie Bingham was a community institution. Her work at the Dayton Daily News helped us keep in touch with our readers. No one cared about them more than Millie," Dayton Daily News Editor Kevin Riley said.

Longtime friend and

Dayton Daily News political cartoonist Mike Peters called her "a relentless crusader, righting wrongs, helping the little guy. Always happy, always caring, she was Aunt Millie to our kids. Millie's gone, we've lost a little of our sunlight. We'll miss her," Peters said.

"She was the consumer movement before there was a consumer movement," said Brad Tillson, former Dayton Daily News publisher. "She was really ahead of her time. Her money-saving tips for consumers were very popular and very innovative at the time."

The Crawfordsville, Ind., native attended Indiana University in Bloomington and worked with controversial researcher Dr. Alfred Kinsey in the 1940s. She met her husband, Ted Bingham, in 1946 while at Indiana University where they later married and moved to Springfield. They later moved to Kettering.

Ted Bingham was an editorial writer and editor for the Springfield News-Sun and the Dayton Journal Herald before he became a local ombudsman.

Inquisitive and self-professed born writer, Bingham was asked by former Dayton Daily News editor Arnold Rosenfeld to write a column with tips on how to save money. Her "Common Cents" column began running in February 1972 under the pseudonym Kate McQueen.

A year later, Ted Bingham died.

Her popular "Ask Millie B." household hints column began running in the Dayton Daily News in November 1980.

"She taught me to love books and animals," her son said. "Her unwavering kindness and optimism were unbelievable. She would not let anyone leave her house without giving them something."

Longtime Kettering neighbor Winifred Fiedler said, "She gave us advice and comfort on lots of things. She did not know sadness. If she had it, she denied it forever. She always saw the silver lining."

Millie Bingham's body will be cremated, with the ashes strewn with those of her husband on the Indiana University campus where they met, her son said.

A memorial ceremony will be held at Christ Episcopal Church, 20 W. First St. Time and date have not been set.