Van Auken, Mildred M. (Diggins) 1910 – 2000

VAN AUKEN, DIGGINS, RYAN, MERSCH, ROLLINS, HOULIHAN

Posted By: Joy Moore (email)
Date: 10/12/2016 at 17:31:58

Source: Times Plain Dealer February 23, 2000, P.A3
from Elma library collection assembled by Marian (Marr) McGee

Services to be held for M. Van Auken

Funeral services for Mildred Van Auken, formerly of Des Moines and Masonville, will be held at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, February 24 at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Masonville. The Rev. David Kucera will officiate. Interment will be in St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery in Masonville. Bohnenkamp-Murdoch Funeral Home in Manchester will handle the arrangements.

Mildred, 89, died Friday, February 18, 2000 at the Good Neighbor Home in Manchester after a short illness.

Mildred M. Van Auken was born October 19, 1910 in New England, ND, the daughter of Patrick H. and Mary Ann (Ryan) Diggins. She was baptized on November 11, 1910 at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in New England. At a young age, she moved with her family to Masonville. She graduated from Xavier High School in Manchester, and then taught school in the Masonville area.

On August 31, 1932 she married Floyd G. Van Auken at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Masonville. The couple lived in Manchester, Audubon, Cresco and then Des Moines.

She was active in her church and did volunteer work. She loved bowling, playing Bridge, making crafts and was self-taught on the organ.

Mildred was preceded in death by her husband Floyd on November 14, 1981; her parents; two brothers: Harry and John T.; and three sisters: Catherine Mersch, Eileen Rollins, and Imogene Houlihan.