Mildred was orphaned at three, lived in an orphanage from the age of 3 to the age of 7, and when she was finally adopted--had a mean stepmother. All her siblings, older and more capable of helping out with household and farm chores, were all adopted long before she was.
Her step-parents forbade her marrying Basil, her first love. Lucky for all her children and grandchildren, however, she married Papa and they had five children: Bob, Carlene, Richard, Dot and David. (Whenever she mentioned Basil, I used to wonder who I'd have been if she'd married Basil instead of Earl--though of course this-I wouldn't have been anybody.)
Papa had a wonderful stepmother, Cana, who loved Mildred and who was beloved by all their children and all the neighbors in Perry. She was my mother's favorite grandmother, as Mimi was mine.
Mimi and Papa's farm house burned down, and they rebuilt it. Bob (Carlene's three-years-older brother) died of a brain tumor at the age of ten. A few years later, David was born.
She had cancer in her fifties, she fell and broke three of her four limbs in her seventies, but Mimi lived a healthy life until she died at 97. She was resilient and unstoppable: funny and optimistic and the sweetest person I've ever met. I never heard her say a harsh word to or about anyone.
Mimi--and so many strong women of her generation--would have been enigmas to Dr. Spock and other experts on child-rearing who wrote books on the subject in the fifties and sixties. Everything that could go wrong in a child's life did go wrong, yet she was amazing and unforgettable. She left a big heart-shaped mark on everyone she loved.
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| About thirty years ago |
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