Mildred M. Young

MILDRED M. YOUNG Graveside services for longtime Cortez resident Mildred M. Young will be held at 2 p.m. on Thursday, October 11 at the Cortez Cemetery. Mildred was born on June 26, 1913 in Elk Mountain, Wyo. the daughter of Rev. J. Morton and Constance (Grainger) Young. She went to be with the Lord on Saturday, October 6, 2007 at her residence at the age of 94. Mildred’s family moved to LaPorte, Colo. when she was six years old, where she attended her first seven years of schooling. Her eighth and ninth grades were spent in Farmington, N.M. In 1928, she moved to Albuquerque, N.M. with her parents and went on to graduate from high school in 1931 and began attending the University of New Mexico in the fall. In 1933, Mildred began teaching first and second grades in Moriarty, N.M. In 1936, she wanted to finish college so she transferred to Hastings College in Nebraska where she received her B.A. In 1941, she applied to a mission board and received assignment to John Hyson Memorial School in Chimayo, N.M. where she taught for eight years. She had kindergarten, first and second grades. During Mildred’s last two years she had over 50 pupils with no teacher’s aide. Mildred met Clara (West) Graffis in 1946 when she started teaching at Chimayo. Both Clara and Mildred resigned in 1949. Mildred applied and was accepted as the district teacher at Towaoc. There were about 12 first and second graders. Half of them spoke no English. The Ute language had not been written so you could not buy a book to learn it. Clara, who taught at Hovenweep for a year, transferred to the Cortez schools and was soon placed in Towaoc, as the school there now had six grades and the Cortez school system took over the operation of it. Mildred and Clara found a house there and eventually had a little six year old Ute girl live with them and go to school. She was the first Ute to graduate from Cortez. The three of them moved to a farm south of Cortez in 1950. Then in 1959, they moved to Cortez. In 1960, Mesa School was built and Mildred and her first grade pupils were moved from Towaoc to Cortez and were given a room at Mesa where she taught until she retired in 1978, after 42 years of teaching. Mildred and Clara started a Sunday School in their home in Cortez in 1959. In time, several missionary families came and church services were begun. A pastor was called and in 1962, and construction on a church building was started. In October of 1963, the first service was held in the new building, which is now Faith Bible Church, where Mildred taught Sunday School Primary children for about 35 years. Mildred was preceded in death by her parents; her sisters, Frances Young and Quendrid Green; and by her good friend, Clara Graffis. Memorial contributions may be made in Mildred’s name to Hospice of Montezuma or to the Gideons International.