Mildred Hunting Wheeler: A Woman of Will
Mildred and Her Siblings
Mildred Alice Hunting was born in Watertown, NY on January 25th, 1894 to Stanley Hunting and Grace Devendorf. She was the oldest of four children, Frederick (b.1899), Maro (b. 1895), and Dorothy (b. 1904). Mildred attended public school in Watertown and later Maryland College for Women. She graduated on June 7, 1915, having completed her studies in the College in Domestic Science and Arts, where she achieved a Teacher’s Certificate. After graduation, during World War I, she worked with the Red Cross gathering medical supplies, serving as a hospital aide, making home relief calls to the poor, and attending rallies and military drills.
In 1922 Mildred met Edwin (Teddy) Sessions Wheeler, the man who would become her husband, for lunch at a midtown New York tearoom. After their meal, Teddy waved her away as she boarded the Manchurian for a three-month tour of Europe. This European grand tour was an alternative form of education to a degree from a prestigious women’s college. Mildred sailed with a group of friends to explore France, the Swiss Alps, and Italy, taking photos and sending postcards along the way. [1] She spent her time on the ship playing piano and singing hit ragtime music with her friends.
Mildred’s Diploma
Returning to Rochester, NY after her trip to Europe in 1922, Mildred paid afternoon tea visits to friends and neighbors, and traveled often to see college friends. But she was restless at home and unfulfilled, her solution was to travel. Mildred’s work with the Red Cross during World War I led her to become interested in the Near East Relief, a committee founded in 1915 in response to the massive humanitarian crisis triggered by the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire which displaced millions of Armenians, Assyrians, and Greeks. Mildred worked for Near East Relief [2] in Persia from 1926 to 1928 with friend Marjorie Wilson, spending time in Tabriz, Iran. In Tabriz, she managed the household while Marjorie Wilson managed the process of closing the orphanage for the last group of Armenian children whose parents had been killed by the Turks during WWI. These remaining children were placed into foster care.
Upon her return home in 1928, Mildred had no thoughts of marriage. In her diary she rarely mentioned men and only once hinted at desire. She comes across as a strong-willed, no-nonsense woman who thought the socially acceptable men around her to be immature. Mildred called receptions “stupid” and rejected the affectations of men who wanted to show off their “manliness.” She wanted a man who was as competent and well-mannered as she was, and she found him in Teddy Wheeler.
Mildred with her two children Richard and Elizabeth.
On December 3, 1929 Mildred married Edwin (Teddy) Sessions Wheeler [3] (1891-1967) at a small ceremony in All Souls Universalist Church in Rochester NY. Teddy was a man of traditional values and had a good job working for the International Nickel Company. For him, Mildred was the ideal woman. Teddy complained about having lived too much and too long among strong women but then he married one. Mildred was as accomplished and independent as Teddy’s sister and mother. Mildred described him to her sister, Dorothy, as “a sympathetic and kindly soul,” “such a quiet soul and conservative.” She wrote, “…he is sweet to me and insists I am quite perfect. When Teddy is about my hair gets in a very untidy state. I have never been so rumpled. But it’s such fun.” They had two children together, Richard, born 1931, and Elizabeth, born 1932. After the birth of their two children, Mildred and Teddy moved out of Brooklyn, NY to Westfield, NJ. Tragically, in December of 1933 Mildred became ill with diaphragmatic pleurisy, and died a week later in her home in Westfield, New Jersey.
[1] To learn more about Mildred’s travels click here: https://pphtravelogue.weebly.com/mildred.html
[2] The Near East Foundation is still in existence, learn more about them here: https://www.neareast.org/who-we-are/
[3] Edwin Sessions Wheeler is a descendent of Elizabeth Porter Huntington (1803-1864).
Sources:
Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum. https://pphtravelogue.weebly.com/mildreds-biography.html
Elizabeth Wheeler. “A HUNTING–McCOY--WHEELER STORY: Circa 1920 to 1950”
Near East Foundation. “History,” https://www.neareast.org/who-we-are/.