During these years, Harold and Mildred continued their ministry of building support for the Alaska mission of California Yearly Meeting (our church’s denomination). Having traveled to Kotzebue, Alaska, they were able to visit the various churches in California and show pictures of the people who lived there. Grandma would go and present a program, often bringing part of her angel collection and telling her “Pink Angel” story, and ask for donations for the mission.
One of her big goals was to send an Eskimo boy to college at George Fox College in Newberg. She raised money to pay for his travel and tuition.
Sometime after Harold’s death Mildred took a trip to Indiana to see her old home towns and to visit what was left of Frank & Tirzah’s farm property.
My grandparents (Harold & Mildred Votaw) were strong supporters of Richard Nixon. Not only was he a Republican, and from our home town (Whittier), he came from Quaker stock. His mother, Hannah Nixon, was a member of the East Whittier Friends Church, and his aunt (Olive Marshburn) was part of our church and a good friend of my grandmother’s. Consequently, my grandparents were contributors to Nixon’s political campaigns. The archives contain a few letters from Nixon, similar to the one shown above.
The above photo shows the Junior High group at First Friends Church in the early 1960s, including the adult leaders who helped out. Harold and Mildred led the Junior High ministry at First Friends for many years. When I was in elementary school I could hardly wait to become old enough to join their Junior High program, which had a great reputation and looked like a lot of fun. Unfortunately this never happened, as my grandfather passed away the year before I entered Junior High School, and Grandma did not feel that she was able to continue in this ministry role. Eventually my parents took it over, and they did a good job.
In 1960 Harold & Mildred went on an around-the-world trip on Pan Am, and took Aunt Tirzah with them.
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