Emma Hill was born May 21, 1892 in Oklahoma Territory near what is now Stillwater, Oklahoma. Her paternal grandmother was Cherokee. December 25, 1910, Emma Hill married Frank Gauley. They lived on the Gauley Farm two miles north of Sheffield, Iowa, until Frank's death July 16, 1966. During these years twelve children were born. Ten survived infancy and are living in 1995. There were 35 grandchildren - one died as an infant.
I am Mildred Gauley Seydel, the third of the surviving children and the third daughter. I
was born December 1, 1917. When I was twelve we organized the Geneseo Township Girls 4-H Club - the We-Can-Do-It Club. I decided almost immediately that I would become a Home Extension Agent and therefore would attend Iowa State College as it was named then. I graduated June 12, 1939.
I married Robert Emory Seydel June 15, 1941. We had two sons, Robert Emory Seydel, Jr. Born Aug. 29, 1942, earned a PhD in Mathematics in 1973 from the University of Iowa; and Frank David Seydel, born May 15, 1944, earned a PhD
in Micro-Biology from Iowa State University in 1973. There are five grandchildren but so far none attending ISU.
Back to my mother's life. We all learned to work on that farm - raise a garden, preserve food for winter, bake, raise chickens and other poultry, sew and other handwork, raise flowers, home decoration, care of the sick and helping the neighbor as well as family. During those Depression years we learned all those "make do" methods that we find ourselves using generation after generation.
My mother was active in Extension work, the Methodist Church and its Women's Mission Societies. She enjoyed classical music, embroidery, raising house plants and traveling. Most of all she enjoyed babies. Her long life ended April 13, 1989. 12/30/94 |
