Mildred (McArthur) Calkins - 1993Mildred was born on St. Joseph Island. She completed the 8th grade and at age 14 went to Sault Ste. Marie Michigan, USA for employment. She did housekeeping and cooked for two years before working in a tannery, pasting hides.
In the summer of 1917, she met U.S. army Pvt. Harold Calkins at a church supper. They corresponded after he was transferred to Waco, Texas and then to France and WWI.
She went to Michigan in 1918, to find better work, first to Muskegon, then Flint, where she worked on a speedometer assembly line, and then Pontiac, where she worked in a cafeteria.
After her marriage to Harold they ran a General Store, Post Office and Railroad ticket office for many years.
During WWII, she worked in an Allegan Defense Plant as a Quality Control Inspector.
