There is much to be said about Mildred and I hardly know how and where to begin to write of this loving woman. It was obvious to me, from my first meeting of her in the spring of 1954, that she loved her family above all else. She always wore a charm bracelet that hung with the "charms" of her grandchildren, which included each child's birth date. It was important to her to show this bracelet to whomever was sitting close to her, at any occasion. I use this example of her pride in her descendants to give a picture of how I remember her.
Mildred was born in Denver, Arapahoe, Colorado in 1902. She had one sibling, a younger sister, Dorothy, who was also born in Denver. Their father, John Stewart, died when they were just toddlers. Their mother, Edith Dickinson Stewart, married Luke Hyman a few years later in Ellsworth, Michigan. Then, this family moved to Yale, St. Claire, MI. Mildred and Dorothy attended a boarding school. I am inserting some comments about this experience below, from an interview with Mildred's daughter, Milla Shepard Pairan:
Interview Doc #211-Milla said: "My mother hated the religious boarding school that she and her sister, Dot, attended. Mom dropped out of school in 1917 at 17 years of age and moved to a Detroit apartment. She shared the apartment with Mildred Fowzer and worked at the Telephone Company. Mildred Fowzer's boyfriend introduced Bob Shepard to Mom." We have more evidence of Mildred in the Detroit, MI census of 1920 below (my notes of the census entries):
3 January 1920 Census of Detroit, MI=Mildred living at Dormer Hall with 36 other telephone operators working at the Telephone Co., Detroit, MI. She was not at school that school year. She listed her father as having been born in U.S. and her mother in MI [Interesting to note that Mildred may not have known, at age 17, that her father was actually born in PEI, Canada].
Well, soon after Bob and Mildred met, they married, in April 1922, at the home of her mother and step-father in Yale, MI. Then, Bob and Mildred went to be with Bob's family in Shelby, Ohio, for a few days.
During a visit that my husband and I had with Bob's cousin, Delight Dever in 1997, we were viewing a photograph of these newlyweds' visit to Shelby. Laughingly, Delight had these words to say:
"We Shepards laughed about her blue taffeta dress that she wore on the day she came to visit us in the country. She brought a whole wardrobe of city clothes." Delight also mentioned that Mildred had difficulty in traipsing around the Shepard farm in her fancy shoes, too. After all, Mildred was accustomed to living in the big cities. Bob and all of his family were country dwellers.
Mildred and Bob spent their married years in South Akron, near where Bob was employed, at the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company. They had three children named Fred, Milla, and Robert Carlton. Mildred busied herself with cooking fine meals, raising beautiful roses, and helping her children and husband in all their activities. She made friends with her neighbors and belonged to a bridge club. One of her hobbies was to recite jingles, especially to her grandchildren. My sons loved these rhymes and made a point to memorize and recite them for their own enjoyment. I must tell you, also, that Mildred adored butterflies.
When Mildred and Bob moved to Florida for retirement in November, 1955, it seemed awfully far away, but they usually came to be with their Ohio family at least one time per year. After Bob died, in 1976, Mildred sold their house and moved back to Ohio. We all admired her spunk to accomplish that big job. She made arrangements to live in a retirement home on Main Street in Akron, Ohio. She enjoyed having a grandchild stay overnight with her now and then at this place. And, there was just no stopping Mildred when she decided to visit her family. Once, she even made a huge trip to Iceland, of all places, to visit with her sister's daughter and family!!!
It's impossible for me to really do a good job of telling about all the generous things Mildred did for her family. She certainly made us all aware of her love for us. Though she needed to depend on a wheelchair in her later years, she still continued to travel, bless her heart. She died in 1991 and we miss her greatly.
MILDRED LUCILLE STEWART
BORN: 6 Sep 1902 Denver, Arapahoe, CO
MARRIED: 29 Apr 1922 Yale, St. Claire, MI
DIED: 10 Aug 1991 Stow, Summit, OH
BURIED: Oakwood Cemetery, Cuyahoga Falls, Summit, OH
SOURCES: Marriage, birth, and death certificates; Censuses of 1910-1940; Many interviews with Milla Pairan and a recorded interview with Delight Dever Schirmer. Mildred's scrapbooks, saved letters and postcards from Mildred, photographs, handwritten recipes from Mildred, and my personal memories of Mildred.
