My mother was born May 19,1904 in Council Bluffs, Iowa in a home a few
blocks away from where I went to high school. She grew up in a large family
and finished schooling at the eighth grade. At about sixteen years of age she
went to work for the Northwestern Bell Telephone company as a telephone
operator and worked eight years until she married.
Mildred as a young telephone operator in the early 1920's
After my father passed away in 1942, she went back to work for
the telephone company once more as an operator. Times were different, a
war was on and she was a widow with four young children ranging in age from
twelve down to five. She worked the graveyard shift at night and tried to
watch over us in the daytime. A babysitter stayed with us until we were old
enough to be on our own or taken care of the by the older kids.
She was a woman of many interests, loved to travel, and read
extensively. She was loved by her family and always pleasant to be with. When
she died in 1983, she was ready for the next world and freely talked about those things.
Mildred in 1947 at age 43.
More photos of Mildred
by clicking on the link.
Irene Vuagniaux
Irene married Thomas Mann just before the WWII. I
remember they moved to California so Tom could work in the shipyards as a
machinist. They had a child named Robert Allen who was born in California and died when he was
about eight years old in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Irene passed away in November 1983, one month
before my mother.
Tom, her husband preceded her in death by a few years.
Emily Vuagniaux
Emily Vuagniaux was named after her aunt who served during
WWI. She was born June 18,1918 while her aunt was a nurse at the front in
France. She married Lloyd Hall and had two children, Frank and Sandra. In
later life she was married to Frank Tesnohlidek. Her son Frank Hall lives in
New Mexico.
Emily with her husband Lloyd Hall and son Frank in 1942.
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