Mildred Lucile VanDeburgh

Mildred Lucile VanDeburgh was born on July 4, 1919 to John William & Ruby Faye (Hammon) Spangler in Beaver, Oklahoma and passed from this life March 20, 2018 at the age of 98.

She was raised on the family farm southwest of Beaver along with her brother, Virgil & sister, Margry & attended a country grade school, "Union Star" just 2 miles from their home that they walked with sack lunches, etc. in hand, to & from & adventures along the way every day unless the weather was really bad then their dad would drive them to school.  The walk was only a little over a mile because they cut across the pasture.

Some of the neighbors with children she remembered were the Dooley’s, Broadfoot’s, Leagues, Knights, Hildebrand’s, Reddick’s, Bradwood’s, Morris, Cassity’s and Venable’s.

Mildred went her freshman year of high school in Beaver, Okla.  Since there were no school bus routes to pick up the country children, she stayed with an aunt & uncle thru the week and went home on the weekends.  Similar arrangements were made for her to be able to finish high school in Beaver.  Mildred graduated Beaver High School in 1937.  After graduating, Mildred attended Draughns Business School in Oklahoma City.

Returning back to Beaver she married Fred Willard Savoy and to this union were born Patricia Faye, Fredena Jolene, Billie Jean & Clifton Fred.  Later Fred spent several months in & out of hospitals & after much suffering passed away leaving Mildred with their 4 young children, oldest just 6 years old.  She was blessed with supporting parents & in-laws, relatives, neighbors & friends but mainly did it all by herself on their farm sacrificing many things for herself in order to provide for her children, often foregoing taking care of her own health in order to pay for dental & health care for her children.  She had all the things of a small farm; garden, canning, chickens, cows and the work was hard.

During that time in the '40s there was no electricity and the home was mainly heated by a coal burning stove & at night Mildred would heat irons & wrap them in towels & place them in the "feather beds" to keep the children's feet warm because there was no stove in the bedroom.  There was no running water and few in the area had phones.  The washing machine was a tub and wash board and later a motorized washing machine.

Mildred was a good seamstress & made most of the girls' dresses & the boys' shirts.  She would cut the boys' hair & wash & put the girls' hair up in "pin-curls" with bobby pins then dress them all up to go to town for the weekly shopping on Saturday.

One of her few outings was going to her "Six Mile Ladies Quilt Club" where the ladies would work on the hostess' of the month quilt.  In the months she hosted, she managed to get a quilt made for each of her children for their "keep sake".

Mildred never went to a "Beauty School" but she cut hair & gave permanents as good as any "certified" beauticians to a lot of her neighbors, family and friends.

Three years went by then she met and married Floyd "Fiddle" VanDeburgh ll.  Then the family moved to another farm west of Beaver.  There was electricity, a phone and running water there soon after.  To this union was born Floyd VanDeburgh ll.

Among all the other things mentioned, Mildred was a wonderful cook.  Some of her "specialties" were homemade bread & cinnamon rolls, fried chicken, chicken fried steaks & cherry cobblers.  Mildred was a very good house keeper, doing it herself, right up to the time she moved into an "assisted living center" at age 90.

With the Lord's help Mildred not only kept her family well fed, but also well clothed and well-mannered, also taught cleanliness, orderliness and self-discipline.  She was a great example of frugality and handling finances carefully.  Like her parents she learned these lessons in life.  They were all hard working Christian people.

When Floyd & Clifton were still at home the family moved off the farm to Beaver & after the boys left home she went to work at "Owens Dry Goods", "Peggy's Apparel" & then as the Beaver City Clerk for 13 years until she retired.

Sunday, July 30, 2006 Mildred was honored by the Beaver First Christian Church for her 40 years as Sunday School Secretary & many other service activities.  Twenty-five members of her family were in attendance.

Among the pleasures in her life were going to her children's ballgames & activities then later to her grandchildren's ballgames & activities, being at Wednesday night bible study with friends, spending time with all her many family, relatives & friends; family gatherings, picnics, card games, etc. traveling & sightseeing as much as she could with family.  Her 90th birthday was celebrated with a reception & fifty-two family members were in attendance as well as neighbors & friends.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, daughters Billie Jean (Russell) Bleeker & husband Dwaine, Dena Jo Stapp & husband Max, grandsons Kenneth "Bodie" & Duane Stinson, brother Virgil Spangler & wife Starr & sister Margry Rinauro & husband Russell; son-in-law Hal Richards.

She is survived by her sons Clifton Savoy & wife Judy and Floyd VanDeburgh & wife Sharon; daughter Patricia (Savoy-Stinson) Richards; grandchildren Larisa Howell, Vickie Hensley & husband Roger, Monte Stapp & wife Linda, Max Stapp, Jr., Brock Russell & wife Stacey, Stacey Leinen & husband Destin, Stefanie Fulton & husband David, Angela Clark & husband Brad, Stuart Savoy & wife Tiffany, Jon Savoy & wife Jodi, Marc Savoy & wife Tiffany, Matthew VanDeburgh, Ashley Lewis & husband Robert, Amy Fant & husband Chas & Ryan VanDeburgh & wife Elizabeth; 16 great-grandchildren & 2 great-great grandchildren.

Celebration of Life services were held March 29, 2018 at the Beaver First Christian Church with services held by Pastor Rick Main & burial in the Pioneer Cemetery south of Beaver.

Services were under the direction of Alan Clark Funeral Service Beaver, Oklahoma.