The local paper printed this feature story about Mildred and her collection of angels in 1965, while she was still single. It’s a great article, telling about her history and her ministry work. The article refers to her famous story of the “Pink Angel” which you can listen to her read on this page. (Click image to enlarge for reading.)
Harold’s death in 1963 left Mildred alone, and she did not like it. In a 1965 Christmas card to one of her friends, she wrote, “I am starting my third year without Harold and I’m afraid I still have little peace on the inside.” She was still in her early sixties, in good health, with plenty of years left. To help with her loneliness, she spent lots of time with friends, and stayed involved in various ministries.
I was in my junior high years at the time, and Grandma would often invite me to spend the night at her house. She just liked to talk with me; she did not like being alone.
Mildred was quite well-known in Quaker circles, and very popular. As the years went by she began to think about marrying again, and men began to think about marrying her. She told me about other men who had been courting. Some of them were from First Friends (our church in Whittier), and I think she really wanted to avoid anything like that.
Walter Jessup was a Quaker from Ventura. My grandparents had known Walter and his wife for a long time, through California Yearly Meeting connections. Walter’s wife had passed away, and Grandma was a fairly young widow. She was only 60 when my grandfather died, and not yet 63 when she married Walter.
Mildred married Walter on May 10, 1966. The wedding was in our living room! It was in the house on Davista Drive – about a year before we moved to Philadelphia St.
Portrait of Walter Jessup, taken in the 1960s. His last name “Jessup” was the same as Aunt Tirzah’s, although I never heard that Walter and Frank Jessup were related. Mildred and Tirzah shared the same last name at the end of their lives, just as they had at the start!
Walter had a big garden at his home in Somis, and he loved raising fruits and vegetables in it. In this photo he shows off a prize-winning cauliflower.
Walter was a long-time Quaker (Friend) and was a leader in the Ventura Friends church. In this news clipping he is shown as part of a ground-breaking team for a new church building.
Walter with his two sons, Bruce (Al) on the left and Merrill on the right.
This portrait of Mildred is one of the best, I think, because this is how she looked to us. When faced with a camera she would usually keep her mouth closed (to hide her teeth, which she didn’t like the look of) and put on her camera face, which wasn’t her normal look.
Mildred and Walter pose with her four grandchildren at the party for her birthday in 1967. This photo was taken in the dining room of our house on Philadelphia St. in Whittier.
Mildred, Walter, and Tirzah
Walter lived in Somis, a small town near Ventura, and was active in membership at Ventura Friends. He was a retired school teacher, and had a large garden where he practiced the art of grafting branches from one type of tree on to the trunk of a different type. I got to visit his house once. It was interesting to see more than one type of fruit coming from the same tree!
When Grandma told me that she was going to marry Walter my first question was about his health. I had watched my grandfather’s health decline over the years, and how difficult life was for my grandma without him, and I was concerned for her that she might have to go through that again. I’m sure that she shared my concerns with him, and when he first came to our house to meet us he offered to go out in the back yard and play catch with me – something my grandfather had never been able to do. So we went out and played catch, and that told me that he was healthy! (I later found out that he had quite a few aches and pains for a couple of days as a result of that catch game.)
Walter was very different from my grandfather. He was much more of a talker, and had a stronger will. I think that living with him came as quite a shock to my grandma, who (I’m sure) was used to having her way. They worked it out okay, but then when Walter had a stroke just a few years later he lost a lot of his ability to speak. After that Grandma pretty well ran things.
Walter had two sons, Al and Merrill. They were both tall and handsome, both very gifted in their two careers. Al was a musician, a gifted pianist, singer, and choir director. He made his living serving as a music teacher and as a church musician. Walter called him “Bruce” but everyone outside of the family called him “Al”. I had known him before, as Al, and after Grandma and Walter’s wedding I never knew what to call him.
Merrill was a businessman – maybe a stockbroker? Anyway, he was very successful and made lots of money. His family had a fancy house at the beach.
Both Al and Merrill had large families. When Grandma and Walter got married I suddenly gained a whole bunch of cousins. They were all at our house for the wedding – and they were all younger than me. I had never had cousins before; I didn’t know what to do with them. The only one I ever made friends with was Al’s oldest child, Nancy, who is two years younger than I. We met at the wedding and have been friends ever since.
On hearing of his engagement to Mildred, Merrill wrote a letter to his father (dated March 22nd, 1966). In the middle of the letter he shares his joy, love, and advice:
We are excited, pleased, overwhelmed at your (and our) good fortune in meeting, finding and loving such a truly wonderful lady. Mildred is a superb person, a lovely complement to our family, such a friendly and charming, gracious woman. In short, she is a most welcome addition to our family. She will be good company for you, will make a grand wife and provide you once again with a real home. Our children’s pleasure is evident, and we are grateful for that too. There just isn’t anything good enough to say that adquately expresses our feeling – except that we are happy – for you, for her and us.
One interjection, which was expressed Sunday and now again. Be considerate of her wants and feelings. She has a rich reservoir of family feeling and closeness in Whittier. It is also important to her to be near to them now as before – every thread of her personal life is anchored here. Please don’t forget or ignore that in your own feelings for Ventura Friends Church, as she has a church home, with a dependence on her there too.
I don’t know if it happened as a result of this letter, but after their wedding Walter left his home in Somis and his home church in Ventura. They lived in Mildred’s house in Whittier and attended First Friends Church. Walter’s son Al lived in Whittier also, so that was probably part of the reason why they chose to live in Whittier. For our family, it meant that life continued as we had always known it, with Grandma nearby.
The Working Years, by Dick Votaw
(part 12) (parts 10-11) (part 9) (part 8)
(part 7) (part 6) (part 5) (part 4)
(part 3) (part 2) (part 1)
Mother was remarried in 1966 to Walter Jessup, a fine Quaker gentleman from the Oxnard area that she had previously met at a Yearly Meeting function. He had lost his wife in 1964 and this turned out to be a good marriage for both. I was glad Mom didn’t have to be alone as she really hated the three years after Dad’s death. The four of us went to many Dodger games together and since Walter was a former college baseball pitcher he was a good fan too. Walter had to change his lifestyle immensely after marrying my Mother, as he was not used to the active social life she was used to leading. I think he really enjoyed learning bridge and doing many things that he had not done before. They both liked to travel, but not in the camper that Walter had. It soon was gone.
Peggy and Sue at Mildred and Walter’s wedding, in our living room.
Above are two photos from Mildred and Walter’s honeymoon, which took them to various sites around California.
Mildred and Walter traveled to Japan with their friends Cliff and Elizabeth Marshburn in 1967.
This photo is taken in the patio area of our house that we rented every year in Newport Beach. We had guests all summer there every year, because friends and relatives from Whittier and other places in Southern California loved to come visit us at the beach and eat the barbequed swordfish steaks that Walter would cook on the grill out on the patio. They were wonderful! In this photo you can see Grandma and Walter on the right, getting the food ready. Facing away from the camera on the left are Bud and Marge Markel, a couple who had worked with Grandma for many years as helpers in the Junior High department at church.
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