Mildred Olive Radney

Mildred Olive Johnson was born May 11, 1918 in Danville, Illinois at the home of her parents, Jabez Hiram and Julia Etta (Jones) Johnson. She married Charles Austin Hazel on April 11, 1936. This marriage lasted 42 years and produced their only child, Dorothy Ruth (Dotty).

Their early marriage was marked by hard times as this was the period of the Great Depression. After moving around to find work, they settled back in Danville, Illinois and bought a house a half block down McKinley Avenue from Mildred's mother and the home where Mildred was born.

Mildred was an excellent seamstress and in 1939, Charlie bought her a Singer Featherweight portable sewing machine. Soon came the war. Mildred volunteered at the Red Cross unit which was making pajamas for soldier. She had the only sewing machine that could make buttonholes. Making buttonholes by hand slowed the pajama making process extensively. Mildred would go to the Danville Library where the Red Cross did their work with sewing machine and Dotty in tow and spend her time there making buttonholes. She earned several Red Cross certificates for her efforts, one being for 200 volunteer hours in the Production and Surgical Dressings Center.

In 1942, the family moved to Brazil, Indiana, where Charlie's job transferred him. There, the family settled in and Dotty started school at Pinkley Elementary. Mildred was an organizer of the first PTA at the Pinkley School. She managed to feed and care for her family throughout the rationing and meager war times.

Health problems at the plant where Charlie worked caused its shutdown and forced the family to move back to Danville. Lean times again and Mildred went to work. This was over Charlie's objections as this just wasn't done back then. She worked for the Recording and Statistical Corporation in Danville from May 1951 to July 1952, when a better paying job presented itself at General Electric's ballast plant. She worked in the ballast factory for 17 years, getting involved in the union's organization.

Mildred always had a knack for coming upon emergencies such as car crashes and fires. It used to be a family joke that a fire truck always went by her on their way to an emergency and she usually followed them! She joined the Civil Defense organization in Danville, taking the required courses in fire and rescue. Danville did not have ambulance service at the time and the Civil Defense unit covered that need. Mildred had a station wagon, which she outfitted as an official rescue rig. It was as fully equipped as you could get in those days. She used it as stand-by at ball games, county fairs, motorcycle races and Boy Scout Jamborees. She provided non-emergency transportation for people to therapy or doctors' offices. In one emergency incident, a small private airplane went down not far from her house. She was the first of the first responders there and by the time the others arrived, she had the pilot on a backboard ready to transport.

Mildred was a certified American Red Cross instructor for 11 years. She decided during that time to become a nurse, which was what she really wanted to be. She earned her LPN license in 1969, and went to work at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Danville. She worked there for 10 years. Mildred found that not having a high school diploma was a handicap, so she started working on her GED and earned it in 1970. She was 52 at that time.

Mildred took two trips abroad, one east and one west. She went on a tour of the Holy Land and she visited her daughter and family in Japan.

In 1978, Charlie and Mildred's marriage fell apart and she decided to move to Florida. She transferred to the Veterans Administration Bay Pines Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida, where she worked until she retired in 1980. Mildred married Daniel Radney on June 8,1981 and they shared happy years together.

Mildred was a spiritual person. She was very interested Native American Spiritualism and those beliefs. In 1987, she became an ordained minister of the Universal Church of the Master and opened a storefront church. She made many friends through this activity. In time, this required more energy that she had to give, so she had to close the church, but the friendships endured.

In the fall of 1994, Mildred fell and broke her left hip. The replacement hip healed well and she recovered quickly. In the following February, Mildred and her niece, Susie, went to Alaska. Mildred had always wanted to go there and go dog sledding. They went to a place near Fairbanks where they taught tourists how to drive a dog team. Mildred, being less than five feet tall, was too small to manage the heavy clothing and the sled brake. She kept falling off! She finally had to accept riding as a passenger on the sled. After the lessons, she and Susie took dog sleds to Chena Hot Springs and spent the night there, sledding back the next day. Mildred loved Alaska, and kept saying if she were 10 years younger, she would move there. She was 76 at the time!

Though Dan had lived in Florida all his life (other than when he was in the army during WWII), Mildred convinced him to move to Danville in 1996. Dan was not well by this time, so it was better to be closer to family. Dan died in June, 20 1998. Mildred stayed in Danville until 2004, when she became concerned about her health and emergencies. She moved to St. Louis to be close to family.

Mildred was not afraid of technology. She bought her first computer, a Commodore 64, at the grocery store. Later, she moved up to IBM PC's so that she could email her daughter and grandchildren. Next she added online banking to her list of tech skills. She continued to use her computer daily until the arthritis in her hands prevented her from typing on a keyboard. She was in her early-90's.

In 2005, at the age of 87, Mildred became the Organizing Regent of the DeWitt Clinton Jones Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the Union 1861-1865. She loved her country and was so proud of her grandfather's Union service. The still active chapter is named after him.

Mildred had a strong love for animals. She always had a dog, or cats, or both. She also loved birds and since she had a big back yard in St. Louis, she started putting up bird feeders, and kept putting up bird feeders. She fed 100's of birds daily. She had her binoculars and Audubon Bird Book handy at all times so she could identify any bird which she did not recognize.

Near the end of her life, she became a member of the Faith Community Church. She adored its pastor, Rick Jones, who had ties to her home town of Danville, Illinois. Mildred died on May 23, 2016 at the age of 98.

She is survived by her daughter, three grandchildren, Jeffery David Hiatt, Kathleen Marie Hiatt and Rebecca Ann Hiatt; four great-granddaughters, Stephanie Nichole Pennington, Heather Lauren Li, Meagan Elizabeth Hiatt, and Kristina Chantelle Hiatt; two great-great-grandchildren, Marissa Qianrun Li and Trevor Qianjin Li; one niece, Julia Susan Karnes.

A Celebration of Life will be held for Mildred later this summer.