Mildred Cohen - April 12, 1915 - August 7, 1936

One faded photograph from her tombstone and a card from her brother Phil are all we have left of my husband’s paternal aunt, Mildred. As reported by Uncle Phil, she lived a short, unhappy life. Oh, an undated card showing that she passed a transcription test also made it to Mildred’s memory page on my family tree program.

Mildred and I graduated from the same high school, Battin High, in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Mildred, graduating with the class of 1933, some 38 years before me, honestly doesn’t seem like a long time.

On a postcard I sent to Uncle Phil to fill in the details about his deceased siblings, he wrote about Mildred, “She was active in playground sports and played the mandolin.” Their parents had 14 children.

Phil, next in line after Mildred, was born just one year later, in April 1916. It must have been a terrible blow to him when Mildred died at age 21 after what he called, “a tragic life.” While we know that she was in the hospital with pneumonia, the cause of her untimely demise is undocumented. Possibly one of our cousins reading this blog post will shed more light on that unpleasant subject.

When our son Judd inquired about the Hebrew name of his Uncle Jeffrey, my husband’s brother, I told him that he was named for his maternal grandmother Jennie, and his paternal aunt, Mildred. Adding the Hebrew names of his great-grandmother and grandaunt, I explained that Jeffrey was given male versions of the names. For verification, I sent him a photo of Jeff’s tombstone with the Hebrew and English names.

Those were the types of things my mother-in-law and I discussed repeatedly over the years. She knew that I would safeguard the information. I’m glad my son asked me about the names and pleased that I could give him the information to which he replied, “Interesting.”

My goal is to give everyone a legacy and while Aunt Mildred’s is not lengthy, it pleases me to offer what little I know of this “very thin child who worked as a bookkeeper after she graduated” from my alma mater.

Now that our grandson Easy Jack was born in October, and he carries a name for his easygoing Granduncle Jeffrey, Mildred’s memory lives on in the family. May Grandaunt Mildred rest in peace with her thirteen siblings knowing that generations after her passing she is remembered.