BIOGRAPHY

Mildred Livingston was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma, on 14 January 1913, to Charles C. Whistler and Clara Quolke. She graduated from Central High School in 1930, excelling as a member of the state championship debate team during her senior year and earning membership in the honor society. After high school, she worked at the public library in Muskogee. Encouraged to pursue higher education and a degree in library science, she enrolled at Phillips University in Enid, Oklahoma. She graduated in 1935 with a Bachelor of Arts and Science degree and subsequently joined the university library staff.

On 7 October 1937, at the age of 24, she married Charles L. Livingston in her parents’ home in Muskogee. The couple lived in Enid while Charles completed his coursework at the Graduate Seminary of Phillips University. Mildred embraced her role as a minister’s wife with dedication, teaching Sunday School and Vacation Bible School and actively participating in the Women’s Fellowship Groups. The couple had three children: Nancy, David, and Clara.

Mildred’s organizational skills made family camping trips to the Black Hills and Rocky Mountains not only possible but memorable. Once her children were grown, she began volunteering at the Iowa Braille School in Vinton, Iowa. Her education and abilities were quickly recognized, and she learned to type in Braille, enabling blind children to read through touch. In addition to working directly with the children, her dedication and talents led to her being hired by the school, where she served until her retirement.

A voracious reader with a deep appreciation for public libraries, Mildred also excelled in creative and practical crafts. She was an accomplished seamstress, a skilled knitter, and a talented quilter. Her commitment to helping others extended to volunteering with Habitat for Humanity and mentoring elementary school students. She also organized a program in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, that taught migrant workers’ wives to use sewing machines and materials to create much-needed clothing for their families.

Livingston passed away on 19 November 2024, at The Deerfield in New Richmond, Wisconsin, where she had resided for the past 17 years. She was survived by her three children, six grandchildren, and 11 great-grandchildren.

RECOGNITION

Her age was validated by LongeviQuest on 13 June 2023.

Following the death of Herbert Wolding, on 17 November 2023, she became the second-oldest (known) living person in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, only behind Ruth Stryzewski.

ATTRIBUTION

* Mildred Livingston – Bakken Young Funeral Home

GALLERY