Mildred Vonderhaar was born in Fort Madison, Iowa on January 31, 1921. She is Walt’s second cousin once removed.

Mildred Vonderhaar was born on January 31, 1921 to Henry and Anna Wellman Vonderhaar. She was the youngest child born to the family. Henry was a machinist at the railroad yards. In the 1930 census, we find the family living in Fort Madison. Mildred’s brother, Alvin was attending college. He was 10 years older than she. Their sister Johanna was working in a dry cleaning shop. Rosanna and Mildred were in school.

1940 find Mildred in her first year of college. She and Rosanna are living with their parents. By 1950, Mildred is teaching school at Richardson Elementary School in Fort Madison. She taught Kindergarten there for 40 years. Rosanna has married Paul Bartlett and they have 3 children. We find Mildred, Rosanna and her family and their parents all living on Avenue H in Fort Madison together.

Mildred lived in Fort Madison most of her life. After retirement, she volunteered at the school library and the West Point Care center. Mildred Vonderhaar died April 21, 2008 at the care center. I talked about her parents in this post.

I did see in at least one source that they had her birthday as January 31, 1931.