I am giving her life history and I thought I would share it here for my posterity.
Mildred
Frances Hamilton Young, Mother, Grandmother, great grandmother and great great
grandmother was born on the dry lands of eastern Colorado December 9, 1919
near Sligo to Frank and Lillie Hamilton. She died on November 14, 2011, 3 weeks shy of
her 92nd birthday.
Mildred is
preceded in death by her husband, Everette. They were married almost 63 years
before his passing.
She is
survived by her daughters, Judy and husband Patrick, Janet and husband Dave and
Linda and husband Jerry. She has 7 grandchildren, Larry Grubbs, Natalie
Collins, Bret Drury, Kelly Naughton, Dean Naughton, Ryan Naughton and myself.
She has 18 great grandchildren and 5 great great grandchildren.
She was
raised in Cheyenne, Wyoming. While
attending grade school she would walk 10 blocks to school, home and back for
lunch and then home after school, sometimes it was so cold and the wind blowing
so hard she would walk backwards so she could breathe. She
graduated from High School in 1938. She often told my children she didn’t have
a bike growing up, she had a horse. She
would ride her horse to the roller skating rink, leave him tied up, skate to
her hearts content. When she was done
both the dog and the horse were waiting for her and she would just tell the
horse to take her home. And he did. She loved riding horses and participated in
Cheyenne Frontier Days several times. Being an only child she loved living
close to all her aunts, uncles and many cousins. She went to work at Woolworths
for 15 cents an hour after graduation. On April 6, 1940 she married Everette
Young. They were blessed with three daughters, Judy Annie, Janet Kay and Linda
Mae.
My
grandparents moved to Colorado in 1948 and over the next 49 years lived in
Rifle, Grand Valley and Grand Junction. Grandma loved being involved with young
people. Over the years as her girls grew
up she was very active with Christian Endeavor, Central High School Mother’s
Club and Band parents. She also was a force behind establishing a museum in
Grand Junction.
She was a
member of the Clifton Christian Church and gave many hours of service to the
church.
She was a
retail clerk in several different businesses including Newberrys, Woolworth,
Kress and Keith O’Briens, but she found her niche working as a florist where
she could share her creativity through flowers. I remember her doing
flowers. Lots of wedding flowers. Even in the last few years when Brenn wanted
to make boutonnieres you could just put the materials in her hands and they
went on automatic. Her love of nature
inspired her flower designing.
Grandma
loved to travel and was able to visit wonderful places like Alaska, Hawaii, the
New England states in the fall and most of all she liked the Hamilton family
reunions in Elmo, Missouri where her parents and grandparents were from. After
moving to Arizona return visits to Colorado and Wyoming were special for her so
she could spend time with Jan, Dave, Bret, Natalie and 2 great grandchildren.
Grandma
loved nature whether it was the Colorado mountains, lakes and forests or the
ocean. She always reminded us that Arizona was not her cool colorful Colorado.
Her favorite season of the year was fall when the trees were bright with color.
Grandma loved to share her love of nature with others and often took friends
and relatives on rides to enjoy the out of doors with her. Of course she never
came back from a trip empty handed. Rocks, wood, moss etc. would follow her
home.
My
Grandmother was one of the most creative people you can imagine. She made all
of the clothes for herself and the girls including prom and wedding dresses.
She made cheerleading and twirling outfits not only for her daughters but
anyone else who couldn’t sew. Other
projects included satin collars for the High School chorus, altering band uniforms and
toy soldier costumes for a kindergarten class just to mention a few. The list
is long and varied. To say she loved
crafts is an understatement. We always had a project to do when we got to her
house, plastic snakes to decorate, beads to string, or dolls to dress. She elaborately decorated her house not only
for holidays but just to display her latest craft project.
Grandma was
very good at gathering her family. We
all made trips to be together for Christmas or the summer. Even
tho there were only 3 bedrooms and one bathroom. The travel trailer was always
her extra guest room and we loved it when we were old enough to sleep out. Little kids were given homemade sleeping bags
and bedded down in the living room. She
taught us well, we still all gather for holiday dinners.
Grammy was
the best example of service I know. She
routinely knew all of her neighbors and helped with what ever she could. Whether they were elderly and needed to be
watched over, or younger and needed mentoring.
I distinctly remember the night her mother died, Kelly, Dean and I were
visiting and we all went up to the nursing home visit with Great Gma. As were loading up the car out she came with
about 10 plates of sliced peaches and tomatoes.
As we walked thru the care center she stopped at each door and delivered
the plates, each containing whatever that person liked. I know she didn’t think she was doing
anything special but I know each of those patients greatly appreciated it.
I also blame
her for my penchant for volunteering to help at school. She was such a willing soul to help out with
whatever was needed.
My
Grandparents moved to Mesa in 1997 where they could be closer to family as
their health began to decline. The last 6 3/4 years she lived with my family
and me. She has been a very special part of our family life.
I have often
told people she was the perfect Grandma, wooden spoon and all. She always had time for us. We played cards, go fish, rummy and Uno. We had bowling in the hall and tents set up
in the backyard. Always candy in the
candy dish and cookies in the cookie jar.
She came to our sports, performances or whatever we were involved
with. She always made us things, dolls
out of dish soap bottles, sweatshirts with applique and glitter paint, always
glitter paint. Green for me and Purple
for Kelly, no matter what! It was always
a treat to be able to spend the night at her house, except for Ryan. We would pop some corn and watch a movie on
the TV. Then settle in with the
specially made sleeping bags to sleep on the floor. She hooked us on All My Children at a very
young age. Mostly she was just always
there, steady and loving. I knew without
a shadow of a doubt she loved me and she loved God. She personified the good Christian Woman and
I hope I can be just a little bit more like her. I love you Grandma.
