Mildred Stephens

Mildred D. Stephens passed away Monday, January 8, 2018.  She was born November 25, 1924  in Denver, Colorado to Carl and Miriam(English) Blum.  She lived in Menlo and attended the Menlo school graduating in 1942.   She married the love of her life Carl B. Stephens on August 16, 1942.  They bought and moved to  a farm west of Menlo and lived there for the rest of their lives.  They farmed, raised and fed cattle, and had four children:  Dee Ann, Marcia, Charles, and Kent.     She was a homemaker, belonged to several clubs, and was very active in the community.  Mildred and Carl made many cattle buying trips to numerous states.     She was a 4-H cooking leader for many years.  At one time, she even had a cooking class of all boys. At the 50th reunion of the Menlo School one of the boys who participated in the class told her how much it meant to him.  He said he got up early because he had to ride his bike about 10 miles to get to her house for that cooking lesson, and he wouldn’t have missed for the world.   In 1977 Carl passed away.  Mildred remained active in the farming and the feedlot operation.  One of the special things she did was drive the “lunch bucket” (camper) filled with meals to the wheat and corn harvest fields.  She always welcomed all who were around a meal time to her table.   She was an avid sports fan.  Her favorite time of year was when College Basketball started.  You needed to check the schedule before you called her -- as you didn’t want to interrupt the game she was watching even if it was at midnight.   Mildred was the ultimate grandmother.  She was always ready to attend sporting events, take the grand kids  to fairs, rodeos, swimming or any other adventure they thought up.   She was preceded in death by her husband Carl, her brother Robert, her parents Carl and Miriam, and her son-in-low Don Hovda.   She is survived by her daughters Dee Ann Hovda and Marcia Zierlein and her husband Larry;  Sons  Charles (Chuck) and Kent and his wife Luann; Grandchildren Dan Hovda, Diane (Hovda) Nelson;  Lance Zierlein, Mike Zierlein, Nicci (Zierlein) Senter; Lori (Stephens) Roberts, Amie Stephens,  Lindsey Stephens, Colin Stephens; Connor Stephens. She also has 16 great grandchildren and 7 great-great grandchildren.