Mildred Tatyrek

Mildred was the glue of the Tatyrek family for a long time and she wasn't even a Tatyrek. She was a Tatyrek by marriage. She was momma to Tatyrek nieces and nephews when a brother in law died and the mother couldn't cope. She would have been my momma if something had happened to my parents when my sisters and I were young.

We knew that and knew we would always be ok because we loved Mildred and her husband our cousin Ernie.

Mildred was a war bride and a post war mother. She raised two sons and was in the generation where women became second income earners.

Mildred lost her long battle with cancer this year (2005). During the whole time she had her good days and her bad. Right up to the end she was making sure everything was being done according to her way of thinking. She knew of everyone's interests and who belonged to whom. She kept in touch at first by letter writing that were a lot like she talked. As the internet became the way to communicate, she learned to do that to keep in touch with everybody. In the end, it she kept in touch by phone.

I think she is up there telling my ancestors they want to be found by me and to get busy letting me know where to look for information on them. They say that something guides you to seek out certain records. Mildred knew I was working on many of my family lines, so I wouldn't put it past her to say something....