https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/89af2b9cc2be99b37a7ae6049633fe26.pdf cb0a9de06325d959b2c5f8f5ec1737a0 PDF Text Text MILDRED (Parrott) LEONARD Mildred's maternal grandparents, John and Mary Porterfield, met and were married in Nevada. Mary Dexter was a member of the Washoe Indian Tribe, a people who have lived along the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and nearby desert areas for countless generations. Their child Lillian Porterfield was only 14 years old when Mary died. John sent Lillian to the Indian school in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, to get a quality education. Lillian excelled at needlework and soon became an expert seamstress. She look a job at the Modoc Indian Agency in northeast California to teach sewing. George Parrott, Mildred's grandfather, was born on a farm in south central Ohio near the small village of South Salem. He learned all the traditional farming skills of the late 1800's at home. George and Lillian's lives intersected when he was hired to teach agriculture at the same Modoc Agency in California. After George and Lillian were married, they moved back to Ohio where Mildred, their only child, was born. Soon enough they were enticed back into teaching at the Indian Agencies. Mildred says, "I think Dad liked to move and experience different parts of the country. We spent a couple of years at Santa Fe with the Pueblo people, next at the Shawnee Agency in Oklahoma, then at Busby, Montana, with the Crow people, and then at Ft. Bidwell, California, with the Modocs. Finally, Dad was sent to Colorado to work with the Southern Ute people. We stayed in Ignacio until 1930 when Dad retired." Mildred attended high school here in Ignacio. She loved playing basketball. The kids had to use the American Legion Hall (localed south of the new library) since the school had no gym. In those days Ignacio had a movie theater, two or three grocery stores, two gas stations and a drug store. These businesses were essential as most people could not go to Durango often. Mildred met and dated Jack Leonard, Virginia Lunsford's brother. They were married when she was very young. The Leonards were an old family in Ignacio. Jack's dad had operated a meat market here for a long time. His mom Edna Leonard taught first grade in Ignacio for many years. Mildred and Jack had three sons, Ted, Bob and Jack. Mildred never worked outside of home. She considered raising three boys a big enough job. When Mildred's husband enlisted in the U.S. Army during World War II, he did not expect the assignment he got. Jack had grown up at Fruitland, N. M., where most of his friends were Navajo kids. When the army learned he could speak Navajo well, they assigned him to work with the legendary Code Talkers. What he was doing in the South Pacific was a secret - so much so that Mildred did not know anything about it until some time after the war was ended. Mildred has traveled a lot. One memorable trip happened during World War II when she and Virginia Lunsford, her sister in law, rode the train all the way to Providence, Rhode Island. "We took the narrow gauge train to Alamosa, then changed to the wide gauge. It was a long trip, but enjoyable. Virginia's husband Paul was a Sea Bee, stationed there in Rhode Island. When he got some time off, Paul took us to New York City to see the Statue of Liberty, Staten Island, the Empire State Building and a 100 �"l ~ 'l ,,, ,,, 'l 'l ) l l ) ) J ) -) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) performance at Radio City Music Hall. Before his time in New England, Paul had been in Hawaii helping rebuild Pearl Harbor." After the war ended Mildred moved to Farmington where she lived for 45 years. In 1978 when she and her dad learned about the opening of the second phase of the Southern Ute Senior Apartments, they applied for a two bedroom unit and moved back to Ignacio. She and her dad had a good two years at the senior center before he died. Both of them liked to play cards. The rest of their crowd included Louisa Hartig, Beulah Miller, Gertrude Dunn, Willie Bledsoe and Twila Bright. Mildred recalls, "When Dad got a notion to play cards, he'd say, 'Do you suppose the old biddies will want to come over?' Usually, they did." Mildred has had wonderful trips to Hawaii as well as to Germany and Switzerland to visit her sons who were stationed there. She has traveled to all but six states in the U.S. In 1980 she attended a family reunion at her old home town in Ohio, where she met most of her 18 cousins and many other relatives. Six of them remain today. Two of Mildred's sons have died: Bob in 1993 and Jack in October of 2010. Ted, a retired Army Colonel, and his wife live in Las Vegas, Nevada. "I don't think a person is supposed to outlive their children. It's very hard to lose them, but I have 6 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren to enjoy today. I'll be 94 years old on July 22nd. So far I don't need any medicine except a daily baby aspirin. My friends Jean Patrick, Jean McClanahan and several others still come over to play Liverpool Rummy. We enjoy it a lot." ) March, 2010- Shelby Smith ) ) ) _) _J _J _) J .J __J J _) _) .J J _; ..J ..J ..J ..J 101 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shelby Smith Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource https://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/?language=en Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-1980 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of biographies, predominantly of residents from the Ignacio Senior Center, based on interviews conducted by Shelby Smith from approximately 1973 to 1980. The abridged interviews were originally published as individual entries in The Thoughtful Years newsletter, published by the Ignacio Senior Center, beginning in 1973. They were later published as a whole in Smith's book: Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley, from which the original scans in this collection have been derived. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Mildred (Parrott) Leonard Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 2010-03 Subject The topic of the resource Leonard, Mildred (Parrott); Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Mildred (Parrott) Leonard based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith in March, 2010. Included in the book "Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley" by Shelby Smith. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Leonard, Mildred (Parrott) Extent The size or duration of the resource. 2 pages Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby