Mildred Johnson

JOHNSON, RADAKOVICH, RISER, DAVIS, ROSS, BREEN, BENZ

Posted By: Pat Hochstetler (email)
Date: 5/30/2006 at 08:23:15

Earlham Library Obituary Collection
2001

Mildred Johnson, 91, of Long Beach, Calif., died Sept. 26, 2001, following a short illness.

Graveside services were held Tuesday, Oct. 2, at the Eaton Cemetery in Eaton, Colo., with Pastor Craig Kirkpatrick officiating. Military honors were performed by V.F.W. Post 2121 of Greeley, Colo.

Mildred Johnson was born June 15, 1910, in Pueblo, Colo., to Mike (Trivun) and Pauline (Pera) (Ribarich) Radakovich, who came to America in 1906 from Serbia. She graduated from Earlham High School in 1928 as class valedictorian. She then taught in three rural country schools near Earlham for five years. In 1936, Mildred graduated as class valedictorian from Iowa Methodist Hospital Nursing School in Des Moines and two years later was hired as Simpson College's (Indianola) nurse, where she was employed for four years. During World War II, from 1942 until 1946, she was the chief nurse supervisor in the Army Nurse Corp, serving in the 126th General Hospital Unit in the Foreign Service in the Philippines. She received the World War II Victory Medal, AP Campaign Medal and the Philippine Liberation Medal. On June 22, 1949, she married Melvin Johnson in Las Vegas, Nev. They spent their married life in Long Beach, Calif.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, a sister, four brothers (three infant), two half-brothers and a half-sister.

She is survived by three brothers, Fred Radakovich (wife Charlotte) of Pittsfield, Mass., George Radakovich (wife Jessie) of Winterset and Nick Radakovich of Indianola; four sisters, Helen Riser of Winterset, Dorothy Davis of San Jose, Calif., Sophie Ross of Lodi, Calif., and Anna Breen of Long Beach, Calif.; and a brother-in-law, Howard Benz (wife Dorothy) of Earlham.