Mildred (on the left) with sister Ruth in 1896 at age 1 1/2.
Mildred married Merrill in 1920. Here is information about their family.
Mildred Myers was born 26 June 1895. Her father was Hunter Grove Myers and her mother was Mary Louise McClung. She had an older sister Ruth and a younger brother Merle. Mother was about eight years old when she was playing in a hayloft and tried to reach the ground with a chair - she fell out of the hayloft and broke 2 arms and 2 legs - the arms were her arms - the 2 legs were the chair legs, but she healed quickly.
Mildred's father was a Mail Man with the Post Office. He worked on a postal rail car of the train going from Wichita, KS into Missouri. Some drunk turned a switch engine on to the main track - then he jumped off. The switch engine collided with the mail train and the people in the locomotive and the mail car were killed. So Mildred's mother was left a widow with 3 children in elementary school. The Railroad Company paid Mary Louise and her 3 children enough to live on.
Mildred finished high school and went on the Fairmont College (Now Wichita State University). At college Mildred met Merrill Isely. Then during World War I Mildred went to Barnes Hospital in St. Louis, MO and became a nurse. They both wanted to become missionaries. They married 10 Jun 1920 and sailed to Istanbul, Turkey after being commissioned as missionaries. They spent much of the rest of the year learning Turkish. They were assigned to Aintab, Turkey, a 2 day train trip east of Istanbul. Aintab is now called Gaziantep. Mildred worked at the hospital from 1920 to 1923 when her first baby was born (Mary Frances). Mother showed the Turkish ladies how to care for their babies.
The whole family (parents and two children) came back to the US in 1927. That year Mary Frances went to kindergarten in Wichita, KS. During this time she gave her brother William (Bill) chicken pox and whooping cough.
We returned to Turkey the next year and my sister Caroline was born on 10 Dec 1928. I remember mother nursing Carol and letting me climb on to the bed to see the new baby.
Two years later we moved about a mile west to an old college campus and lived in a big house. About a block away lived the Pence family. Mrs Pence (Aunt Billie) ran a nursery - her sons Jimmy and David and my sister Carol. During this time my mother taught my brother Bill, Linda Dewey and me with the Calvert School system. Dr. Dewey and family moved into the house we had been living in. There was lady doctor who had delivered many babies and she had been present at the birth of all 3 of us kids. Dr. Dewey, our new doctor, took over and Dr. Hamilton retired.
One summer Mildred specialed a very sick man for several weeks.
The second year we lived on the College Campus Mary Frances came down with scarlet fever and a few days later Carol and Bill also had scarlet fever. Mother took care of us and we were in quarantine for three weeks. Dad had to move out of the house during this time. Dad put on a gown and had Christmas Dinner with us. When we got out of quarantine we all had the flu.
Because of lack of money during the Depression the Pence family went back to the US. The college property was sold to the City and we moved to the Girl School Building across the street from the Deweys'. Mother and Mrs Dewey continued to teach us with the Calvert System.
Besides teaching school part of the day Mother started being the dietician at the hospital. Mother went early every morning to talk to the hospital cook and plan meals for the diabetic patients and others who needed special foods. Intervenous solutions were not available from a drug store at that time. Mother mixed up the solutions and sterilized them to be ready for patients as needed.
One more duty Mother did when there was surgery performed at the hospital - Mother was the sterile nurse - she would put on a gown over her nursing clothes, put on a mask and rubber gloves and would hand the instruments to the doctor who was doing the surgery. He was a Turkish doctor at this time. Dr. Dewey was the anesthetist.
Since the hospital was small and there wasn't surgery every day - Mother and Mrs. Dewey visited Turkish ladies. Mother made friends easily.
In 1962 Merrill and Mildred returned to the US. Before leaving the Boston area there was a family reunion in Craigsville on Cape Cod. All of their children, spouses and grandchildren were present.
They moved in with Mildred's mother (Mary Green - former Mary Louise McClung) who was living alone in her house at 1638 Arkansas St., Wichita, KS. While there they decorated a room with a number of Turkish momentoes and called it the Turkey Room. Another family reunion with all the children and grand children was held in Wichita. In 1968 Merrill and Mildred moved to a retirement home, Pilgrim Place, in Claremont, CA. While there they both enjoyed gardening and other activities at the place. Mildred was a senior Girl Scout leader for awhile. They had a grand 50th Year Wedding anniversary party while at Pilgrim Place.
Mother died 6 May 1985 in a hospital in Pomona, CA.
Mildred (on the left) with sister Ruth in 1896 at age 1 1/2.
Mildred (on the right) with sister in 1903.
Mildred photographed in Boston in 1928.
Mildred photographed in Boston in 1961.
The Myers family in 1906. From left to right are brother Merle, mother Mary, sister Ruth, and Mildred
Mildred in 1916 at age 21