Editors note: Once a month, a Green River senior’s life will take center stage in an article about some of the most memorable parts of their life. This is the first of many more to come.
Staff Report
Mission at Castle Rock The Villa resident Mildred Alberta Garner McGowan Pittman has only been a resident of The Villa for a few years, but has already left quite an impression on many.
If Mildred isn’t at the beauty shop getting her hair done on Tuesdays or her nails done on Saturdays, she can be seen walking through the center three to four times a day. She just wants to get out an visit with others and see what is going on in the center.
Mildred, who turned 98 on Aug, 20, 2014, is also enjoying the newly remodeled apartment, which she says is “so pretty and new,” but she likes it even more since she was able to hang her favorite pictures.When she is not visiting with others, she is participating in the events offered by the center, but she really enjoys it when volunteers come to the center to sing or dance.
Even though Mildred has made many friends at The Villa and center, she has only lived here for a few years.
Mildred was born in Atlanta; and prior to her marriage at age 17 to Maurice McGowan, her father died after he fell down an elevator shaft while Her mother worked for Southern Bell Telephone for 20 years.
After Mildred married McGowan, they had one son, Clifford, who now lives in Farson. Mildred graduated from beauty school and worked in a shop on and off for five years. She then worked for the Department of Defense as a GS2 typist for $120 a month.
Her job was to record all of the vehicles issued to the fourth command and was one of the chiefs in the department that edited requisitions for food. She recalled the first time she saw the first amphibian car. Mildred just couldn’t believe how easy it was for the vehicle to transition from land to water. After 33 years, Pittman retired as a GS8.
Eventually, Mildred divorced McGowan, which she said she later regretted, but when she tried to contact him he had already remarried. Several years later she met Harry Pittman; and they married in 1953. In 1973, Harry and his mother both died. Harry died from heart complications during surgery. That was a hard year for Mildred.
Prior to coming to Green River, Mildred lived at the Sublette Center in Pinedale. Before that, she was proud to say she had lived in the same house in south Atlanta for 53 years, which she bought and paid for.
What pushed the move west, was a terrible car accident in 2007. Mildred’s granddaughter was driving at the time of the accident. They were taken to different hospitals. Mildred’s granddaughter died the same night of the accident; and the doctors told Mildred’s family that Mildred would not make it through the night. However, she did, but she had to learn how to walk all over again, which was no easy task. Five months later, she was able to return home.
Her son Clifford, went to Atlanta to help his mother out; and to tell her that he did not want her to live there by herself anymore. Mildred hated to leave her friends and the shopping, but she also missed her blackberries and pecan tree. She moved to Farson, to live with her son and his wife. She stayed their for three years and then moved to the Sublette Center in Pinedale.
After all she has been through, Mildred is glade for her blessings in life and the friends she has made.
“God is always there and is the best of friends during the hard times, and we should remember to always pray,” Mildred said about her life.
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