Mildred Proctor - Obituary

ildred Louise Hagert Proctor 1923-2008 Mildred L. Hagert was born in Emerado, North Dakota, on August 10, 1923 to Gust and Bertha Hagert, who immigrated from Sweden and Norway, respectively, in the 1890s. She was the youngest of seven siblings, grew up on the family farm and graduated from Central High School in Grand Forks. She was attending the University of North Dakota during World War II when she met her future husband, Army Air Corps Staff Sergeant James H. Proctor. He was attending flight school and billeted at the UND campus when he met this stunning blonde farm girl and promptly fell in love. Following a whirlwind courtship which included Sergeant Proctor buzzing the Hagert farmstead and dropping love notes from his trainer aircraft (and almost running into the windmill one night), the two eloped on August 10, 1943. Mildred embraced the life of a military wife and accompanied her new husband to his military training in Georgia, North Carolina and Florida before he deployed as a glider pilot to the Pacific Theater. When her first son, James, was born at Fort McPherson, Georgia in 1944, Mildred became a full-time dedicated mom. After Lt Proctor returned from WWII, her second son, Richard, was born in Grand Forks, North Dakota in 1947. Her third son, Michael, was born in 1949 at Fort Devens, Massachusetts. In 1950 Mildred and her family sailed aboard the troopship S.S. Cristobal from New York City to Panama, for a four-year tour at Fort Kobbe, Panama Canal Zone. Growing up in Panama was high adventure for the Proctor children, and Mildred was key to their participation in all sorts of activities, including swimming, capturing escaped parakeets, hiking the Las Cruces Trail across the isthmus, horseback riding on El Volcan, or searching for golden frogs or square trees (both exist) in El Valle. In this tropical land, her many orchids and other tropical flowers were testimony to her farmer's green thumb In 1954 the Proctor family flew from Panama to New Orleans in a twin-engine C-47 (DC-3) and a new assignment at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, where daughter Claudia was born in 1956. Mildred grounded her children with core values, church, scouting and education and reinforced the importance of family with annual trips to visit cousins in Connecticut, North Dakota, Mississippi and Georgia. She was very involved with the Wright Patt Officers Wives Club and volunteered her time with their thrift shop. Mildred's last military move was in 1958, when Lt. Col Proctor was transferred to Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland. The Proctors joined Corkran Memorial United Methodist Church, and she volunteered there as well as with the Andrews Officers Wives Club Thrift Shop and her children's schools libraries. The Proctor children graduated from different high schools in Maryland and moved across the country and around the world pursuing school and careers. In time, the Proctor family grew to include spouses Leigh Anna, Danny and Kathleen and grandchildren Rhett, Desiree, Joshua, Leigha and Jennifer. No matter how far away, all family members always knew where home was because Mildred Proctor was the lighthouse that guided their lives as a devoted mother, wife, home-maker, mentor, friend and grandmother. She always thought about others first, and her proudest accomplishment was in successfully guiding the personal development of her four children. On October 16, 2008, Mildred passed away in the peaceful beauty of her beautiful home on Still Pond Creek in Worton, Maryland. Preceded in death by her beloved husband, Jim Sr., she will rejoin him in Arlington National Cemetery. Mildred is survived by James, Kathleen and Jennifer Proctor; Richard Proctor; Michael, Leigh Anna, Rhett, Desiree and Leigha Proctor; and Claudia, Danny and Joshua Walters. Relatives and friends are invited to Mrs. Proctor's Life Celebration at Corkran Memorial United Methodist Church, 5200 Temple Hill Rd., Temple Hills, MD 20748 on Wednesday, November 5, 2008 from 9:30 am until time of service at 10am. Interment will be at Arlington National Cemetery at 2pm. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in Mrs. Proctor's memory to your local Salvation Army or to the USO, USO World Headquarters, Department WS, P.O. Box 96860, Washington, DC 20090-6860.